Background
McDonald, Susann Hackett was born on May 26, 1935 in Rock Island, Illinois, United States. Daughter of George Hobart and Catherine Reid (Hackett) McDonald.
McDonald, Susann Hackett was born on May 26, 1935 in Rock Island, Illinois, United States. Daughter of George Hobart and Catherine Reid (Hackett) McDonald.
Student, Ecole Normale Superieur de Musique, Paris, 1954; Premier Prix, Paris Conservatory, 1955.
In addition to a successful performing career, she has made a number of recordings and held significant academic and organizational posts. Around this time she also had an audience with Juliana of the Netherlands following a recital at the Concertgebouw. From her early years, McDonald toured widely.
Besides Israel and the Netherlands, her travels took her to South America and Canada for recitals and to Europe for radio and television broadcasts.
She also began to develop what would be a noteworthy academic career. Foreign a time, she served simultaneously as head of harp departments at the Universities of Arizona and Southern California and California State College at Los Los Angeles
From 1975 to 1985, she was the head of the harp department at the Juilliard School. She then took a position as chairman of the harp department at Indiana University-Bloomington in the Jacobs School of Music, which has the largest harp department in the world.
Somewhat later, she was named a Distinguished Professor of Music.
McDonald has also played a prominent role in organizations devoted to the harp. She is the artistic director of the World Harp Congress and the honorary president of the Association Internationale des Harpistes, and she founded and is the music director of the United States of America International Harp Competition. Past students include Nancy Allen, Erzsébet Gaál, Cristina Braga, Şirin Pancaroğlu, Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean, María Luisa Rayan-Forero, Jessica Suchy-Pilalis, JoAnn Turovsky, Naoko Yoshino, Kristie Smith, and Natalie Salzman.
Member National Society Arts and Letters, American Harp Society, Association International de la Harpe (honorary president).