Michelle Sell, Harpist For Weddings and Events

Michelle Sell enjoys an extremely active career as a professional harpist. Since 1977, Michelle has played an average of 150-200 professional harp engagements per year. She has performed on the harp for the Queen and King of Thailand, the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg, former President Jimmy Carter, Academy Award winning director Francis Ford Coppola, rock star Sammy Hagar, and former SF 49'er quarterback Steve Young.

Although Michelle is an alumna and former harp faculty member of San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied classical music with Marcella DeCray, she is also an award winning "pops" and jazz harpist. Her style of harp playing is diverse and extensive, ranging from Bach to Cole Porter. Michelle is also a harp composer for Omni Music in New York. Her original compositions have been used on television, radio, and in motion pictures.

Whether it be a wedding, fund raiser, wedding reception, birthday party, retirement party, afternoon tea, or holiday affair, Michelle can be heard as a harp soloist or in combination with flute, cello, bass, guitar, violin, or saxophone. Depending on the engagement, classical flute and harp are beautiful accompaniments for your ceremony, while soprano saxophone, bass guitar, and harp are fabulous for your lively "jazzy" reception.

Michelle is available as a harpist for weddings and events in San Francisco, Napa Valley Wine Country, and throughout Northern California

For outdoor weddings & private engagements, Michelle frequently uses a Camac electro-acoustic harp. Every string on this harp has a pickup or small microphone. This enables the harp to be heard, clearly, in venues seating 500 people or, in contrast, at venues with few people, it is an intimate background instrument. Michelle believes that her clients are entitled to professionalism, punctuality, courtesy, and above all, the ability to hear the music for which they are paying. At large venues and at outdoor functions, a traditional acoustic harp may be difficult to hear if not amplified. There is no extra charge for using the Camac electro-acoustic harp and its amplification system.

TESTIMONIALS

"Michelle's playing on the harp is impeccable. Drawing together classical and world traditions, she is making the music of our time, and beyond."
-John Diliberto, Producer, Echoes, American Public Radio

"Michelle, play or correct the arrangements any way that you like. I trust you completely..." Don Costa, Arranger for Frank Sinatra, Sr.