Marie-Pierre Langlamet
harp

Marie-Pierre Langlamet was born in Grenoble (France) in 1967, and received her first musical instruction at the Nice Conservatoire. She studied harp with Elisabeth Fontan-Binoche, and attended masterclasses with Lily Laskine and Jacqueline Borot. Already in early years she was winning international competitions, such as the 2nd prize (top prize) of the Maria Korchinska competition in the Isle of Man (UK) in 1983, the 1st prize of the Louise Charpentier Competition (Paris) in 1984, and the 2nd prize (top prize) of the CIEM in Geneva in 1986.  

At 17 years of age, she became the principal harpist of the Nice Opera Orchestra. A scholarship enabled her to continue her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Soon afterwards, in 1988, she was appointed assistant principal harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York (chief conductor James Levine), where she worked for five years. During this time she continued pursuing her career as a soloist and chamber musician. In 1989 she was a first prize winner of NY's "Concert Artists Guild competition", and in 1992 won first prize at the International Harp Competition in Israel, a competition that is widely regarded as the most important for the instrument.

Since 1993 she is the principal harpist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (chief conductor Claudio Abbado, and since 2002 Sir Simon Rattle)