Hailed as “an accomplished, poised, self-assured performer” (New York Concert Review) with “breadth of expression and remarkable tone” (Choral Journal), and “scintillating harp wizardry” (Delos Records). virtuoso harpist Grace Cloutier trained at The Juilliard School, Yale University, and in France.  She gave her solo Carnegie Hall début recital in 2006, an encore solo recital in 2008, and a “Grace and Friends” concert there in 2014.  Grace was a quarter finalist at the Israel International Harp Contest (2001) and has performed for audiences across North America, Europe, and the Middle East, regularly performing for the American Harp Society, the World Harp Congress, the Ukrainian National Music Festival, Carnegie Hall, and in Lincoln Center.  She co-founded Ukraine’s International Harp Competition (now entitled Glowing Harp), where she served as head juror of a panel comprised of musicians from Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. As a chamber musician, Grace performs with David Enlow, Jessica Meyer, Rebecca Ringle Kamarei (of The Metropolitan Opera) and co-founded Etherea Vocal Ensemble with its artistic director Derek Greten-Harrison.  She has also appeared with Constantine Orbelian and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the Calder String Quartet, and many others. A dedicated teacher, Grace regularly gives master classes throughout North America and has held multiple residencies at UCLA and served on the faculty at The University of Texas, The Hartt School, Quinnipiac University, and currently is Head of the Harp Department at Trinity College.

Grace has been privileged to work with many respected conductors, including James De Priest, David Hill, J. David Jackson, Andrew Litton, David Robertson, Julius Rudel, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Alexander Vedernikov.  She has performed with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, and has collaborated with numerous composers, including David Lefkowitz and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Del Tredici, whose newest harp work, Aeolian Ballade, she commissioned and premiered at Carnegie.  Grace was a substitute with the New World Symphony, won the position of Principal Harp with both the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and School of American Ballet Orchestra, and has appeared many times as guest harpist with the New Haven and Hartford Symphony Orchestras.  She has also performed on Broadway, has given solo concerts for celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, and Howard Stern and was honored to perform for President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. On television, Grace has appeared on The Today Show, Good Day New York, all leading networks in the United States, was a finalist on America’s Got Talent, and appeared on the national television networks of Israel, Germany, France, and Ukraine.

An active proponent for increased public awareness concerning the intrinsic value of music for all people at every stage of life, Grace regularly gives workshops for students from kindergarten to graduate school and has received the Gluck Fellowship from The Juilliard School for her work with victims of AIDS, the elderly, and children. In addition, she has been honored with a Presidential Point of Light Award for her musical contributions to Hospice.

Grace maintains an active concert schedule, and has been featured on numerous recordings, including Radiant and Winter Solace (HIP Records, 2004, 2008), Ready for More (Three Monkeys Music, 2008), Ceremony of Carols (Delos, 2011), Introduction (Purple Critter, 2012), Hymn to the Dawn (Delos, 2013), The Men Behind the Music: An Evening in Paris (Aurelia Productions, 2013), Harp’s Desire (Albany Records, 2014), and Sarah Rose Taylor: Wagner and Elgar (MSR Classics, 2015), Fauré: Requiem and other sacred music with Yale Schola Contorum and David Hill (Hyperion 2017), and Tribute to Jeff Buckley with Morgan James (YouTube 2017).