Dr. Anastasia Pike serves on the faculties at Teachers College, Columbia University; the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University; and Christopher Newport University. She is also the founder and director of the Christopher Newport University Harp Festival, and associate director and coach of the Crested Butte Music Festival Chamber Music Intensive.
Pike has delighted audiences including European royalty, the first lady of the United States, Supreme Court justices, senators, congressmen, legislators and celebrities, and has performed on national and international television, in venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution. She has also performed with members of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the English Philharmonic, Europa Galante, the London Mozart Players, L’Orchestra des Champs Elysees, the Melbourne Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as with artists including Renée Fleming, Kristin Chenoweth, Arturo Sandoval, the Irish Tenors, LeVar Burton, Morgan James and Katja Herbers. Locally, she has appeared with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and as principal harpist with the Fairfax, Harrisburg, Richmond and Virginia Symphonies.
Pike is also a member of the Sprezzatura Duo, formed with fellow harpist Kate Loughrey. "Sprezzatura" means "the art of making something difficult look effortless." The duo demonstrates the art of "sprezzatura" in their fun, creative and entertaining concert programs that appeal to audiences of all ages. In 2012, Pike and Loughrey co-founded the Harps for Kids Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public charity that provides lessons and community outreach programs to local youth. The Sprezzatura Duo performed at the American Harp Society's 2016 National Conference in Atlanta, giving the world premiere of their second commission. In 2018, they received the prestigious faculty development grant from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University to record their debut album.
In addition to her career as a concert harpist, Pike is also an award-winning pianist, and has been featured on more than 10 different CDs as both harpist and/or pianist. As an arts educator, Anna has conducted national and international research, and has interviewed artists including Pierre Boulez, Alice Chalifoux, Evgeny Kissin and Leonard Slatkin. She has written articles for the American Harp Journal as well as entries for several encyclopedias by Salem Press. Anna has presented at the Mid-Atlantic Harp Festival, and is a regular presenter at American Harp Society and the College Music Society's (CMS) National Conferences. She was the event director and lead panelist of the day-long 2016 CMS Pre-Conference Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In 2017, she presented at the Global Awareness Society International conference in Heredia, Costa Rica, and at the 2017 American Harp Society's (AHS) Summer Institute in Northfield, Minnesota. Pike also performed as part of the Elán Ensemble at the AHS conference, and conducted a harp ensemble at Les Harpes Camac Festival USA, where her students gave the world premiere of Dr. Evan Meier's "Variations on an Antique Theme," which she commissioned specifically for the festival. In 2018, PIke joined the Crested Butte Music Festival as associate director and chamber music coach of the Chamber Music Intensive. In 2019, she was an invited speaker at the Juilliard School.
Pike earned her doctorate from Columbia University, and has master's degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (major: harp; minor: piano) and the University of Maryland (musicology). She completed additional studies at the Juilliard School, the MasterWorks Festival - London and, upon personal invitation, to the Salzedo School. Her primary instructors were Alice Chalifoux and Jeanne Chalifoux. Pike was awarded the United States Navy's CMC Award for her volunteer work providing therapeutic music to the wounded warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and remains committed to the juxtaposition of music and medicine.
Pike serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the College Music Society, and is president of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the American Harp Society. She divides her time between Washington, DC and New York.