About Zoe

     Zoe Lyn O’Shaughnessy is a harpist from Northwest Indiana who strives to evoke emotion and inspiration in audiences of all backgrounds. She is currently pursuing this passion at the University of Southern California as a first year Masters harp performance major, under the tutelage of Ms. JoAnn Turovsky, principal harpist of the Los Angeles Opera. She has also obtained her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of North Texas with Dr. Jaymee Haefner and studied previously with Marguerite Lynn Williams, principal harpist of the Chicago Lyric Opera. Through her studies, Zoe has received the opportunity to perform with other like-minded musicians from different backgrounds, inspiring her to share her own experiences through her music.
    
     In 2025, Zoe was selected as the harp fellow at the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara, CA) and performed under the batons of Anthony Parnther, Stephane Deneve and David Danzmayr.  She has performed with multiple ensembles at USC and UNT, including USC and UNT Symphony and Concert Orchestras, and was a member of the UNT HarpBeats. She also has performed with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra, Garland Symphony, Symphony Arlington and the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra. Through these experiences, her musicianship has evolved to include genres other than classical

     Through her experiences, she has competed in competitions both locally and internationally. Zoe has been honored to be selected as a grand finalist at the Anne Adams Awards (2022) as well as the Lewisville Lake International Competition for Strings and Harp (2023). And more recently, she has competed at the Hong Kong International Harp competition. Zoe has performed as a soloist with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra as a winner of their concerto competition.

     Since a young age, Zoe has always held the belief that because someone is different, it does not mean that they are incapable. This has influenced her to create plans to start a nonprofit organization  to make classical music more inclusive and accessible to those who have been historically left out. 

     In her free time, Zoe can be found getting coffee with her friends as well as planning every second of her future, even though it will most likely change the next day.