“Your email prompted me to relive the emotional moment when I walked up to my teacher,
Ellie Choate, at the AHS Conference in Redlands to tell her that “I did it! I bought a harp!” What a day! I thank you for your part in the transaction and for your role in connecting me with the harp community in LA.” K. Matthews, California
HARP IN LA is a collaboration of Paul E. Baker and Heidi L. Spiegel, with special help from harpists and harp lovers throughout Southern California. Paul and Heidi have years of experience and a passion for harps that makes them a valuable resource for anything related to harps and harp music. HARP IN LA is in Los Angeles, with our HILA studio in Pasadena, California, near the 210 fwy, 20 minutes north-east of downtown Los Angeles.
Paul Baker is a native of Washington State. He has a Bachelor of Music degree earned at Seattle Pacific University as well as a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Accompanying from the University of Southern California.
Paul continues a busy schedule that includes solo performances, recording, conducting, teaching and arranging music in Southern California and throughout the country. In addition to his demanding performing and teaching schedule, Paul has published numerous arrangements for solo pedal harp under Vanderbilt Music Publications.
Paul’s recorded works include a series of healing music CDs, which display his wonderful improvisational talents. Paul, highly proficient at both pedal and lever harp, has recorded this series on lever harp. The CDs are deeply relaxing, and are a prime example of how beautiful and healing harp music can be.
Paul has received two awards at the International Pop and Jazz competition. He performs and teaches at workshops and music conferences throughout the United States.
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Heidi Spiegel is a native of Hollywood, California. She and her family have been part of the Los Angeles visual arts community for generations.
After playing the cello in high school, Heidi began studying the Celtic harp in 1978 with Sylvia Woods. She later worked for Sylvia at the Sylvia Woods Harp Center from 1989 to 2010 while attending university. She continued her harp studies with Deborah Friou and later with Paul Baker, which included pedal harp studies.
Heidi majored in Fine Arts and Art History at California State University, Northridge. She also attended for several years Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and studied under Joseph Mugnaini and Peter Sis at Otis College of Art & Design (then Otis Art Institute) in Los Angeles.
Heidi’s extensive knowledge of the harp, harp repertoire, and harp sales comes from a diverse professional background that includes banking, retail sales, product purchasing, and both lever and pedal harp sales with Dusty Strings, Triplett Harps, Salvi Harps, and Lyon & Healy Harps, bringing this experience to HILA.
Heidi’s artwork is held in private collections throughout Los Angeles and the UK. Her illustrations appear in several Woods Music & Books publications.
