Alice Chalifoux

She had a reputation as a specialist in orchestral harp technique and a master teacher. She taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music, and the University of Maryland School of Music. Chalifoux received two honorary degrees for her work. In her personal life, Chalifoux married John Gordon Rideout in 1937 and had one daughter.

• Name — Alice Chalifoux • Birthplace — Birmingham, Alabama, United States • Born — January 22, 1908 • Died — July 31, 2008 (age 100) • Occupation — Musician, music teacher • Instrument — Harp • Past Member Of — Cleveland Orchestra

Chalifoux was the youngest of four children born to the merchant and violinist Oliver Chalifoux and his wife, harpist Alice Hallé Chalifoux, in Birmingham, Alabama. After learning to play from her mother and continuing as a music student in local schools, Chalifoux was accepted as a student of Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She owned Salzedo's house and the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony after his death in 1961. She received two honorary degrees in the early 1990s: a doctor of fine arts from Bowdoin College and a doctor of musical arts from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Through her work with the Cleveland Orchestra, under the direction of conductors such as Erich Leinsdorf, Artur Rodziński, George Szell, Pierre Boulez, and Lorin Maazel, Chalifoux quickly became recognized as a specialist in orchestral technique. Her recording of Debussy's Danses sacrée et profane with the Cleveland Orchestra received a Grammy Award in 1970. She was the principal harpist for the Cleveland Orchestra from 1931 to 1974. A lack of accommodations for women led her to change clothes inside of her harp trunk when necessary. She was reportedly accepted by her male colleagues at the Cleveland Orchestra, respected as a great harpist, and did her own harp repairs. Chalifoux was a dedicated proponent of the harp method developed by Salzedo and established herself as a distinguished pedagogue through her extensive tenure at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music. Following her retirement from these institutions, she relocated to the Washington, DC metropolitan area to be near her daughter, Alyce, and assumed the position of artist-in-residence at the University of Maryland School of Music. Renowned as an authority on Salzedo’s music, she was also highly skilled in resolving fingering challenges and diagnosing and correcting physical issues related to harp technique. Her editing of orchestra parts was invaluable to her profession. Chalifoux was the primary instructor at the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony, in Camden, Maine, after the death of Salzedo in 1961. The harp colony was considered the "harp center of the universe". Both beginners and established harpists would travel to Camden to study under Chalifoux. Chalifoux was once a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. • Illustration — Alice Chalifoux with her harp

Chalifoux married John Gordon Rideout in 1937 and had a daughter, Alyce. Her husband died in 1951. Chalifoux continued to teach harpists until she died in 2008 at the age of 100. • Illustration — Alice Chalifoux in 1937