Meet Your Faculty
Three working artists. One shared vision.
Chrysalis brings together three musicians who have built their careers around exactly what this retreat is about — collaboration, teaching, and creating new work.
Anne Sullivan
Concert harpist, educator, founder of Harp Mastery®
Anne Sullivan began her concert career at age twelve when she appeared twice as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She is known nationally as a recitalist and chamber musician, performing regularly with Duo Parisienne (violin and harp), Trio Montage (violin, cello and harp) and SPARX flute and harp duo. Her two solo CDs, Romantische and Break Forth, highlight her dedication to enriching the harp repertoire through performing less common works for the instrument as well as creating her own arrangements.
Anne was a member of the music theory faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1982-2001. She is the author and arranger of numerous works for harp solo and harp ensemble, and has published several practice resources for musicians including the Spark Practice Journal and an e-book, Kaleidoscope Practice: Focus, Finish and Play the Way You’ve Always Wanted, available on Amazon Kindle.
In 2012, Anne Sullivan founded Harp Mastery®, a globally recognized online education platform serving harpists worldwide. Known for its innovative and musician-centered approach, Harp Mastery® redefines how harpists think about practice, repertoire, and artistic growth. Through podcasts, online programs, and live events, Harp Mastery® has become a trusted voice within the international harp community.
Joan Marsh
Flutist, chamber musician, co-founder of SPARX
A professional flute player her entire adult life, Joan is passionate about music, its message, and its ability to transcend the daily cares of life. As a private studio teacher, her award-winning students have found success both on and off the stage. For many years, Joan was an active freelancer in the Mid-Atlantic region, performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, Concerto ‘Soloists of Philadelphia, and the Delaware Symphony.
By far Joan’s greatest achievements have been with harpist Anne Sullivan. During their four-decades long collaboration, they have concertized nationally, won prestigious national awards, initiated ground-breaking residencies, and recorded. Their recordings feature major works they have commissioned notably Lowell Liebermann's Sonata for Flute and Harp, Op. 56 (1996) and Daniel Dorff's Serenade for Flute and Harp (2017).By far Joan’s greatest achievements have been with harpist Anne Sullivan. During their four-decades long collaboration, they have concertized nationally, won prestigious national awards, initiated ground-breaking residencies, and recorded. Their recordings feature major works they have commissioned notably Lowell Liebermann's Sonata for Flute and Harp, Op. 56 (1996) and Daniel Dorff's Serenade for Flute and Harp (2017).
As a teacher, Joan believes technique and musicianship are inseparable — that beautiful sound, clean articulation, and expressive phrasing all emerge from the same careful attention. Her etude book 24 Melodious Warm-Ups, written with composer Daniel Dorff, is one expression of that philosophy in print, and she brings the same integrated approach to her work with her students
Louis Anthony deLise, D.M.A.
Composer, arranger, producer — bridging classical, jazz, and popular idioms
Even in today’s ever-burgeoning music industry, it is uncommon to find a serious composer with real pop music credentials or a pop musician with academic awards and published concert music. Composer Louis Anthony deLise is such a unique artist. Louis has arranged and conducted on number one hits for R & B songstress and Grammy®-winner, Patti LaBelle and in 2023 was awarded a highly prestigious Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts.
In addition to Ms. LaBelle, Louis has arranged for other Grammy®-winners including, Peter Nero, and the band Halestorm. He has also arranged and conducted on hit records for the northern soul icons, William DeVaughn, and Bunny Sigler and in 2023 arranged Robin Spielberg’s Billboard “Classical Crossover Top Ten charting album.
Louis’ most recent solo artist release includes nine new compositions, with one, the title track, “Iridescence,” co-written with Grammy®-winner, Nancy Rumbel. While many critics classify deLise’s music as “ambient” or “neoclassical,” deLise prefers, “post-genre,” as his recordings unabashedly include elements of pop, classical, new age, and west coast cool jazz of the 1960s. “I’m just as likely to include an improvised piano solo as I am to adhere to the strict rules of Baroque voice leading,” deLise says. The album, Iridescence, also includes performances by cellist Vivian Barton Dozor, of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, John McMurtery, flutist with the Las Vagas Philharmonic, and Celtic World Orchestra guitarist, Bruce McFarland.