Elizabeth Houston has played Second Harp with the Memphis SymphonyOrchestra
since 1992. She has played with the orchestra in their
Masterworks, Pops, Family and Chamber Music concerts. In addition to many
freelance harp performances, she also enjoys teaching both adults and
children. She is a member of the Memphis Harp Chapter of the American Harp
Society, The Renaissance Music Circle, and the Memphis Symphony League.

In 1995, Elizabeth accompanied Kallen Esperian in A Holiday Concert directed
by Tom Machen as a benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Performed at Memphis’ historic Orpheum Theatre, that benefit concert has
been broadcast locally on WKNO and nationally on public television. During
Christmas of 1998, she again accompanied Kallen Esperian in a holiday
concert at Christ United Methodist Church.

Mrs. Houston has played for Christmas concerts and musical celebrations in
numerous Memphis-area churches, including First Baptist of Memphis, Central
Church, St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church, St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral and
both Independent and Idlewild Presbyterian. Last Christmas, she accompanied
the Idlewild Concert Choir in A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten.

Having begun her study of the harp at age twelve with her mother, Ruth Moore
Cobb, Elizabeth played First Harp with the Youth Symphony for six years
while growing up in Memphis. As a student member, she both sang with and
accompanied the Glee Club of The Hutchison School. She also enjoyed making
a benefit recording of A Ceremony of Carols with the Concert Choir of St.
Mary’s Episcopal School.

Leaving Memphis, Elizabeth continued her musical preparation with Jeanne
Chalifoux at Mary Washington College in Virginia and with Alice Chalifoux at
the Summer Harp Colony of America in Camden, Maine. While completing her
B.A. in Fine Arts at Rider University and her M.A. in Christian Education at
Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey, she also did advanced study of
the harp with Reinhardt Elster, the First Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera
Orchestra in New York City.

Elizabeth Houston is married to the Rev. Horace Houston, a Presbyterian
minister, and the couple make their home in Memphis, Tennessee, where they
have three children: Laura, Ruth Marie and Chip.