Elizabeth Nicholson — Store Owner, Head Teacher
Elizabeth is responsible for most sales consultations at the Sanctuary, and she also teaches both private and group harp lessons. She is a well-known harpist who has been a stalwart of the Pacific Northwest folk music scene for longer than most Gen-Zers have been alive. (You can find here music website here: elizabethnicholson.com).
Elizabeth gets REALLY excited about harps, and tends to anthropomorphize them. For many years, she’s made a hobby of finding neglected but structurally sound instruments and nursing them back to their full glory. Fortunately, she able to avoid a serious hoarding situation by also taking delight in creating new harpists (through teaching) and matching them with just the right instrument. The Portland Harp Sanctuary was born of these two (mercifully) complementary compulsions.
JC Fitzgerald — Store Owner
JC is Elizabeth’s husband and does sales consultations and logistics for the Sanctuary. He is a retired Army combat veteran who now spends most of his time studying music. When JC is not working at the Sanctuary, he can generally be found in his studio converting punk songs into folk songs and vice versa.
Tim Denniston — Harp Tech Bro
Tim does all of the stringing, regulation, and other technical work at the Sanctuary. He is also one of Elizabeth’s students, and is a skilled harpist in his own right. If you need a technician services such as regulation and restringing, but do not wish to sell you're harp, feel free to contact Tim directly at timrdennistion@gmail.com. Tim can also teach you how to do basic maintenance on your own harp if you'd like to learn.
Diana Segovia — Student Teacher
Diana is Elizabeth's student teacher, and works with beginner students of all ages. She can generally accommodate students on Elizabeth's waitlist right away, so they don't have to wait to get started learning. Diana gets rave reviews from her students for her exceptional communication skills and unfailingly patient and kind presence. She has an excellent grasp of harp technique (no easy feat!), and can work with students to give them a great technical foundation. When she's not playing or teaching harp, Diana works as a full time fine art painter.
We will be adding additional teachers and an in-store artist offering custom soundboard art in the months to come. Watch this space!