Praised by the Classical Voice of North Carolina as “exquisite” displaying “impressive virtuosity and expressive phrasing,” Morgan Mackenzie Short is an American Harpist having received a Master in Harp Performance at the New England Conservatory as a Dean’s Scholar.  She has been awarded top prizes in prominent competitions. Most recently, she was named a Winner of the 2022 American Harp Society Foundation Anne Adams Awards. Other honors include: First Prize in the 2019 American Harp Society National Competition (Advanced Division), First Prize (Strings) in the 2019 Ronald Sachs International Music Competition, Grand Prize in the 2018 Classics Alive Artist Management Audition in Los Angeles, Grand Prize and Audience Prize in the 2018 Rosen-Schaffel Competition for Emerging Artists, and a recipient of the 2015 U.S. Navy Ambassador Middendorf Award.

She is a gifted soloist having performed sixteen concerti with notable orchestras and festivals such as the North Carolina Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, New England Conservatory, Eastern Music Festival, Shenandoah Bach Festival, Appalachian Music Festival, and the U.S. Navy Concert Band, amongst many others.  When interviewed by the Greensboro News & Record for Morgan’s upcoming 2019 performances of the Debussy Danses with the Eastern Music Festival, Maestro Gerard Schwarz remarked that, “Morgan is well on her way to having a career as a harp soloist.” 

Notable performance venues include: Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, and Arthur Zankel Music Hall, Mora Ferenc Museum (Hungary) and Galeri Caernarfon (Wales) for three international harp competitions and participation in a harp documentary.

Morgan has a passion for World Music, and was named a 2022 Laureate Finalist in the Princess Margaret of the Isles Scottish Harp Competition.  She has studied with renowned Celtic harp players Gráinne Hambly and Billy Jackson at the Swannanoa Gathering, along with Kim Robertson and Janet Harbison at the Somerset Folk Harp Festival, as well as Maeve Gilchrist at the Silkroad World Music Festival. 

As an orchestral harpist, Morgan actively freelances with numerous orchestras in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia performing in several operas and over two dozen fully staged Nutcracker performances.  She has appeared as a harpist with the New World Symphony, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Carolina Philharmonic, New England Philharmonic, Charlottesville Opera, Longwood Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, New River Valley Symphony, New England Conservatory Philharmonic, MIT Symphony, Boston University Symphony, UNCSA Symphony Orchestra, Chrysalis Chamber Institute, and the Henry Mancini Institute among others.  Morgan has worked with renowned conductors: Gerard Schwarz, Benjamin Zander, Hugh Wolf, David Loebel, Bill Drury, Carlos Miguel Prieto, James Ross, James Burton, Steven White, Stefan Sanders, Wesley Schulz, Grant Cooper, Miriam Burns, Andrew Sewell, Larry Rachleff, Xian Zhang, among others.

Morgan was a 2022 Harp Fellow with the Orchestra Academy of the Americas, and received a Professional Artist Diploma in Orchestral Studies and Digital Technologies.  She is a recent winner of the New World Symphony substitute harp position for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 season as well as runner-up in the 2023 South Carolina Philharmonic principal harp audition. 

Morgan is currently a fully-funded Graduate Teaching Assistant in Harp at the University of Miami Frost School of Music; as a Doctorate of Musical Arts candidate in Harp Performance and Conducting. In addition to this honor, she proudly serves as Principal Harpist and Fellow at the Henry Mancini Institute.