Zeena Parkins

Zeena Parkins is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who is widely credited with reinventing the harp. Born in Detroit in 1956, she studied at Bard College and moved to New York in 1984, where she became central to the downtown experimental scene. She pioneered the electric harp, an instrument she helped design in the late 1980s, and extended the acoustic harp through preparations, unusual techniques, and layers of analog and digital processing. She has recorded and performed with Bjork, Fred Frith, John Zorn, and Ikue Mori, won three Bessie Awards for her dance scores, and held a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019.