Dates

• Existence: 1908 - 2008

Biographical History

Alice Chalifoux (1908-2008) was an influential harpist who studied under Carlos Salzedo and later ran his harp school in Camden, Maine. She lived to be 100 years old.

Alice Chalifoux was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Her mother, Alice Hallé Chalifoux, was a harpist and taught her from a young age. Alice continued to study the harp through local schools and then went on to study under Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A few years after Salzedo began teaching students during his summers in Maine, Alice became his assistant. When Salzedo died in 1961, he left Alice his house and school. She continued to run and teach at Salzedo’s Harp Colony every summer until its end in 2002. While in concert seasons, Alice performed and traveled with the Cleveland Orchestra. She participated from 1931 to 1974 and was the only female member for her first twelve years. She met John Rideout and in 1937 they were married. He died in 1951 and left her to raise their daughter, Alyce Rideout, alone. In 1991, Alice was awarded both an honorary doctorate of fine arts degree at Bowdoin College and was recognized as an artist-teacher by the American String Teacher Association. Two years later, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of musical arts by the Cleveland Institute of Music. Alice was always going, and even at her old age she never retired. She continued to teach and even established the Alice Chalifoux Scholarship Fund in order to help aspiring harpists. She died in 2008 at 100 years old.

Citation:

Debussy, C. Petite suite [SR] p1997: insert (Alice Chalifoux, harp)

Govea, W. M. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century harpists, 1995 (Chalifoux, Alice; b. Jan. 22, 1908, Birmingham, AL)

Cleveland.com WWW site, Aug. 6, 2008 (in obituary published Aug. 1: Alice Chalifoux; b. in Birmingham, Ala.; d. Thursday [July 31, 2008], Winchester, Va., aged 100; diminutive, salty-tongued, and beloved former principal harp of the Cleveland Orchestra)

Cleveland Arts Prize website, via WWW, Nov. 14, 2014 (b. 1908 in Alabama; mother was a harpist and taught her at age 11; studied under Salzedo and inherited his house and school when he died in 1961; Cleveland Orchestra from 1931 to 1974, only female member for twelve years; husband, John Rideout died in 1951; honorary doctorate of fine arts degree at Bowdoin College; artist-teacher by American String Teacher Association; honorary doctorate of musical arts by Cleveland Institute of Music; established Alice Chalifoux Scholarship Fund; d. 2008) http://clevelandartsprize.org/awardees/alice_chalifoux.html

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