Harpist Lauren Hayes has performed, studied and successfully competed from Paris to Los Angeles. Following her 2012 Carnegie Hall solo debut, Ms. Hayes was awarded third prize in the 2013 American Harp Society National Competition. Most recently, she began her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, pursuing a Master of Art’s degree in harp. Prior to commencing her studies at RAM, she was selected to participate in the festival MusicAlp in Tignes, France for two summers. As a 2012 winner of the University of Arizona President’s Competition, Ms. Hayes appeared as soloist with the Arizona Symphony. Also in 2012, Ms. Hayes was selected to be a participant at the International Harp Master’s Academy in Bern, Switzerland. During 2011, she was selected as a finalist in the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Young Artists Competition. Originally from Whitewater, Wisconsin, Ms. Hayes has won various performance awards and received recognition at the state and national level for her solo composition for harp and electronics. Ms. Hayes has performed with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony, the Royal Academy of Music Manson Ensemble (contemporary music ensemble), the Arizona Symphony, the Arizona Wind Ensemble, the Arizona Opera, the Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Wisconsin Youth Symphony. Hayes is also an active chamber musician. Most recently she was featured in the premiere of Bruce Broughton’s new harp quartet, Dancing for Love, Dancing for the Gods, and her flute, bassoon, and harp trio, Venti e Arpa, was frequently featured in chamber ensemble concerts throughout Arizona, including the St. Phillips in the Hills Chamber Music Series. In the summers of 2012 and 2013, Ms. Hayes studied extensively with Ms. Isabelle Perrin in Paris and has also studied from such internationally acclaimed harpists as Milda Agazarian, Skaila Kanga, Karen Vaughan, Sarah Bullen, and Judy Loman. Ms. Hayes has been an active member of Sigma Alpha Iota, Mortar Board Senior Honorary, American Harp Society and the World Harp Congress. Ms. Hayes is currently a first year graduate student at the Royal Academy of Music pursuing a Master of Art’s degree in harp. She holds a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in harp performance from the University of Arizona where she studied with Dr. Carrol McLaughlin. In her free time, Ms. Hayes can be found hiking in the mountains, discovering the world through travel, on the badminton court or playing bassoon.