Nadia Pessoa is an award-winning, multi-genre harpist, composer, and educator whose career includes performances throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and China. She has appeared as a soloist at Lincoln Center, with the Lima Symphony Orchestra, and with the Fort Collins Symphony, where she made her debut playing the Ginastera Concerto in 2005.

Known for being a versatile and expressive performer, she is the recipient of awards from the National Society of Arts and Letters, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the American Harp Society. She was first introduced to the harp at the age of two and a half by her father, and grew up performing and writing music on the South American folk harp.

Nadia’s current projects are rooted in collaboration, exploring sonic possibilities on the harp, and honoring her Brazilian heritage. She was recently one of 70 musicians from around the world invited to collaborate and perform at Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop in Boston.

Nadia has shared the stage with musical luminaries including Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Johnny Mathis, Bernadette Peters, Wynonna Judd, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Placido Domingo, Randy Newman, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, sitar player and multi-instrumentalist Snehesh Nag, and GRAMMY-nominated hip-hop artist Christylez Bacon, and has entertained notable guests including First Ladies Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, Meryl Streep, Martha Stewart, Michael Douglas, Stephen Colbert, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, Quincy Jones, Gary Sinise, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Presidents George H.W., George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.

Other D.C. highlights: the Choral Arts Society of Washington's performances of Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols at the Kennedy Center, the Cathedral Choral Society's performance of Leos Janacek's Otcenas at the Basilica of the National Shrine, Titanic at Signature Theatre, and Arena Stage's critically-acclaimed production of The Fantasticks in 2009-2010.

A proponent of new music, Nadia premiered a trio at the The World Harp Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, and performed Pierre Boulez's tour-de-force Sur Incises for three harps, three pianos, and three percussionists with the IU New Music Ensemble. She has collaborated with a number of award-winning composers including Susan Botti, Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty, Nathaniel Stookey, Michael Djupstrom, and Sean Shepherd.

Nadia can be heard on the GRAMMY award-winning recording of William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and Experience, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, which was released on the Naxos label and won four 2005 GRAMMY awards, including "Best Classical Album."

Nadia holds a Bachelor of Music and Performer Diploma at Indiana University, where she studied with Susann McDonald, and attended the University of Michigan for a Master of Music on a teaching fellowship, where she was student of Lynne Aspnes, and winner of the concerto competition.

She attended the National Orchestral Institute, Domaine Forget, the Henry Mancini Institute, and spent two summers as the resident harpist at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.

Nadia has presented masterclasses at Louisiana State University, Howard University, Greenspring Academy of Music, and NYU, and has served as an adjudicator for music competitions and evaluations for the National Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Fellowship, ASTA, the U.S. Army, the Fairfax Symphony, and Washington Musical Pathways.

An active member of D.C.’s musical community for over 15 years, Nadia can be regularly seen performing with The Washington Ballet, the Alexandria Symphony, the Children’s Chorus of Washington, and as guest Principal Harp with the Baltimore Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, the National Philharmonic, the American Pops Orchestra, and other ensembles. She has been a featured performer at Washington’s most notable venues, including the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Washington National Cathedral, the State Department, the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and The White House.