Osian Ellis

Osian Ellis is a former principal harpist for the London Symphony Orchestra, and he is probably happy about that. The Welshman once described his own personal outlook as "philosophical" and indicated that a symphony harpist had to be that way, since a good deal of his or her time is spent sitting in the wings. When a solo feature is actually offered, it is most often in one of the same half-dozen repertoire pieces, such as the Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Franz Liszt, which comes complete with a demonic rave-up of a harp cadenza at the finale. Yes, this piece is a specialty of Elli...