Praised for her virtuosity, sensitivity, flexibility and evocative expression, Jennifer Ruggieri is in high demand as a soloist artist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician around the midwest and is currently the principal harpist of the Lacrosse Symphony Orchestra and a member of the recently formed Chicago Wind Symphony. Past guest appearances include Evanston Symphony Orchestra, Dubuque Symphony, Symphony of Oak Park/River Forest, Fifth House Ensemble, and UIC Wind Ensemble. She holds a B.M. from the Eastman School of Music (2007) and a M.M. from Chicago College of the Performing Arts (2010). 

She is a member of the newly formed Ataraxia Duo featuring Matthew Coley on cimbalom/percussion. Upcoming performances include the world premiere of David Blair’s Umo’Ho’Ti: Concerto for Cimbalom and Percussion with the Berks Sinfonietta (Reading, PA), and Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh in Winter 2025. Previous world premieres include John Booth’s Sonatine for Harp (performed 2010) and Kyong Mee Choi’s Resilience for harp and two sopranos (performed 2012). 

As many musicians transitioned to virtual performances in 2020, she created a Twitch channel and joined a creative challenge held by a group of visual artists and in 2021, on a whim, wrote her first song. When that challenge ended after one year, she started her own, creating an online community of songwriters and composers of all levels. She has since written more songs than she can remember and is told some of them are even good. 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@windyharper

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/windyharper15/