(harp upbeat music) - I love the intimacy of the har I'm basically hugging it when I'm playing it.

It's on my shoulder, my feet are on the pedals.

There's no intermediary between the instrument and yourself.

It's just my fingertips on the s (harp upbeat music) I am Cheryl Losey Feder, and I'm the principal harpist of the Minnesota Orchestra.

(harp upbeat music) I like to think of the harp in the orchestra as the color palette of the orch We can contribute so many ways to just changing and shaping, and adding color.

(harp upbeat music) There are so many differen sounds and effects we can make, like percussive short sounds.

(harp upbeat music) Other times I'm accompanying a m playing a supporting role.

Very often we are called on to do like a sweeping glissando, which sometimes sets a incredible mood in the orchestra (harp upbeat music) Some of our great repertoire is really from Debussy and Ravel, and Tchaikovsky has some incredible cadenza's for the harp.

The most famous one, of course, is "Waltz of the Flowers" from the Nutcracker.

But he also wrote beautiful Cadenzas in "Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake" for the harp, and really just always gives us gorgeous material.

(harp upbeat music) The first composer to really use regularly in orchestra was actually Berlioz.

Berlioz said that the harp speaks to the heart, unlike any other instrument, and that he likes to use that magic in his music.

(harp upbeat music) It really shows how he does use in "Symphonie Fantastique" to ju such a magical sparkling atmosph (harp upbeat music) (harp tuning) This is my personal harp that I keep at home, and this is as large as harps co It has 47 strings, ranging from this low C, to a high G up here.

And then what many people often don't realize is that there are also seven foo and the pedals move the discs.

You can kind of see them, the discs moving.

As I move the pedals, there's one pedal for each note of the scale.

So my pedal farthest to the left It controls all the notes D, and these are these notes.

(bright upbeat music) And right now my pedal is in its top position, so it's D flat.

(bright upbeat music) I move the pedal, same string is now D natural, move the pedal again, and they're D sharps.

So at the start of a piece, I will set my pedals for whatever key we're in and then move them as I go.

So it really, the instrument really uses your whole body except actually my pinkies.

So we don't use our pinkies, they just don't fit and reach th So traditionally we just don't u (harp upbeat music) My mom actually decided I would play the harp, so I give my mom credit for that (harp upbeat music) I grew up in Harpswell, Maine, which is kind of hilarious, and I guess maybe why I ended up loving the harp.

I don't know.

It was a beautiful place to spend my childhood right on the Casco Bay.

(harp upbeat music) My life was changed by my mentors in really every way, both Jara Goodrich when I was gr And then I studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, with incredible harpist Yolanda Kondonassis.

They believed in me and showed me that I could be better and bigger than I thought possib - I knew from Cheryl's audition for the Cleveland Institute of M that she is a very, very special Even back then when she was prob not even quite 18 years old she had an innate musicianship.

Her technique was far beyond most folks her age, and there was a warmth to her pl and her sound that was even more I'm just so proud of her.

(audience applauding) - The first international compet I did was the USA international competition, which ended up being featured in the PBS documentary "Harp Dreams."

(harp upbeat music) Mostly I just wanna make sure my fingers are moving.

Well, they came to Cleveland, followed me around, filmed my lessons, an honestly, it was very intense.

(harp upbeat music) A few days before graduation, I was lucky enough to win a job with a Sarasot Orchestra in Sarasota, Florida.

So that was my firs full-time orchestral position.

And it was also where I met my husband, Abe.

He was principal cello there.

We started work on the same day, and from Sarasota, we had kind of a circuitous journey to Minneapolis, kind of taking turns following e for different positions.

We have two little boys, Sammy a who are six and three.

Sammy plays the cello and Andrew plays the violin.

Alright, I'll give you your viol I think music is one of the best we can do as a people, and so of course we should do it with our children.

You can just see how it stretche their mind and their body in such an amazing way.

Their creativity, their confiden all of those things just grow exponentially every week with mu ( upbeat music) And then of course, to have that opportunity to create something beautiful ev you sit down to work is just suc and I'm so happy to give that to my children and also believe that should be an opportunity for every child.

(harp upbeat music) I was very lucky as a teenager t an orchestra that travels the gl and just seeing how in all these our reaction to music is exactly Music connects us all and brings us together in this shared expression of bea - What's your D at the end?

- Abe and I love to play togethe but unfortunately there's so little music written for the combination, which is kind of baffling 'cause the cello and harp work so beautifully together.

(upbeat music) So Abe and I have transcribed some of the Bach gamba suites that work beautifully on harp an We've also transcribed this Strauss Romanze.

It's one of our favorite pieces to play together.

(upbeat music) Prior to our move to Minneapolis Abe and I were in Detroit, Michi where Abe was the assistant principal cello of the Detroit Symphony.

And after I was offered the position in Minnesota, we were just so thrilled and honored that Abe was asked to join the orchestra on a one year contract.

To both be making music together in Minnesota just feels beyond lucky.

I was able to go to Chicago, to choose a harp at Lyon & Healy which is one of the most incredible instrument makers in the world.

Unfortunately, harps do depreciate over time.

The mechanisms, the wood, al these things kind of wear out, and it was a joy to find a harp for us here.

We are thrilled to have this inc Salzedo model here at Orchestra It has this beautiful, rich soun that also has like a sparkle to that I think is gonna carry so l in the hall and project so well.

I also love the look of it that it has a very strong, and modern presence that really our hall and our orchestra.

(upbeat music) Being a part of the Minnesota Or is a dream come true.

I've been dreaming almost as long as I can remember of being a part of a world class orchestra.

Having colleagues who have such energy and integrity, every time they go on stage is so inspiring.

I must say it's even better than I dreamed.