LARA SOMOGYI
Lara Somogyi (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based harpist and contemporary classical performer-composer. Known for her work with electronics and pedal fx her work is focused on forging a new artistic identity for the harp. Her debut full-length album ! was released in 2022 via Mercury KX records.
Born and raised in Kauai, Hawaii and New York, Lara is a graduate from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and in 2018 was awarded as an honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) for her contributions to her field.
In addition to being a composer-performer, she is also an active session harpist - recording in a wide range of genres for Film and TV from sessions with the London Symphony Orchestra to Rufus Wainwright and Bonobo. Lara is also called upon for her unique combination of electroacoustic harp and fx pedals as well as her improvisation and compositional arrangements in sessions as well as a live performer.
Cultivating an individual sound for the harp - she brings a fresh, passionate, modern sonority to the instrument. She was recently brought in specifically for her sound to record & explore harp textures and fx for the score to Blue Planet II by Hans Zimmer and Jacob Shea, featuring Radiohead. Her signature use of electronics and harp is heavily featured on the score. She also worked one on one with composers Mark Isham and Isa Machine (from Florence and the Machine) on the Hulu show Little Fires Everywhere where they brought her on to record with her unique approach to the way the harp is used and heard. She has also featured as harp soloist on Zimmer’s score for Disney’s The Lion King, Kris Bowers’ score for Green Book, Netflix’s Bridgerton, Animals, The Black Godfather, When They See Us and Terence Blancard’s Oscar-nominated score for Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, Space Jam 2, King Richard, Hulu’s Mrs. America, Rob Simonsen’s score for Tully, Bleeding Finger’s The Simpsons, National Geographic’s Being the Queen, Brian Tyler’s Charlie’s Angels, Daniel Pemberton’s Marvel film Birds of Prey, and Jermaine Stegall’s score for Coming 2 America.