Clara Sophie Krüger is a French and German harpist.

She already performed in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

2024 she won the 3rd prize of the top division, Excellence, at the international harp competition Concours Français de la Harpe in Limoges.

 

As a Trinity Laban Scholar, she studied with Gabriella Dall’Olio and Frances Kelly at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, where she graduated with a Master of Arts (Music Performance) in 2020 and with a Postgraduate Advanced Diploma degree (with Distinction) in 2021.

 

Clara is a passionate pedagogue and teaches harp in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland, at the schools Musikschule Oberland Ost in Interlaken and Musikschule unteres Simmental und Kandertal in Frutigen. After her Bachelor in Harp Pedagogy in Germany, she is currently studying for a Master in Music Pedagogy (with a minor in orchestra) with Anne Bassand at the Hochschule Luzern. 

 

Clara made her first musical steps on the piano. She began to play the harp at the age of 8 at the Badische Konservatorium of Karlsruhe, Germany, where she received a scholarship for highly talented musicians in 2012. She won several prizes at the "Jugend musiziert" competition for young musicians in Germany. 

 

After her Abibac in 2014, Clara began studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Harp Performance and Harp Pedagogy (with a minor in piano) at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, where she graduated in 2018. As an exchange student, in Winter 2016 she also studied under Sarah O'Brien at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Switzerland. 

 

In 2017 the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now organisation selected her for a scholarship, providing her with the opportunity to give several concerts in care homes, hospitals and schools.

 

Clara enjoys playing solo, chamber and orchestral music from the classical and contemporary repertoire, and in different groups like the Thuner Stadtorchester and the Junge Philharmonie Zentralschweiz. She already performed in famous halls like Cadogan Hall and Wigmore Hall in London or the KKL in Luzern. 

In 2022 she played as a soloist at the festival in Brescia and as part of the Ensemble Helix at Lucerne Festival, and in 2023 she performed as a soloist at Interlaken Classics Festival. 

 

In 2021 she was a reserve harpist in the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and in 2023 she was selected as the reserve harpist for the academy of the Berner Symphonieorchester.

 

In addition to the classical repertoire, Clara is interested in contemporary music. She participated in the masterclass "Academy Linea" with Geneviève Létang in 2015. She regularly collaborates with living composers, such as Ling-Hsuan Huang (Between for Bass Flute, Harp and Percussion, 2017) and Mathieu Robert (O Bleu for Harp and String Trio, 2021).

 

Clara is also very interested in the collaboration of different forms of artistic expression.

 

For further guidance and inspiration, she attended several courses led by Germaine Lorenzini, Geneviève Létang, Gabriella Dall'Olio, Francoise Verherve, Sarah O’Brien, Béatrice Guillermin and Silke Aichhorn, as well as masterclasses with Isabelle Moretti, Fabrice Pierre and Heidi Krutzen.

 

Her articles were published in the journal of the VDH (Verband der Harfenisten in Deutschland e.V.): "À la découverte de Camac à Nancy!" (2016) and "Sie war wie eine Sonne: Germaine Lorenzini (1942-2017)" (2017).