A Toronto native, Alanna Ellison is establishing herself as a versatile and successful musician by performing in a wide range of venues and performance settings. She was influenced from an early age by many different genres including Celtic music that could be heard in her childhood home. Alanna has been playing harp for over a decade after her admiration for the instrument convinced her to switch from her musical start on piano. 

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She is a graduate of the Master of Music program at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, under the tutelage of Jennifer Swartz, principal harpist of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.  Alanna previously completed her Bachelor degree at the University of Toronto, where she studied with the renowned harpist, Judy Loman. 

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Alanna has performed for numerous masterclasses for internationally respected harpists such as Alice Giles, Lynne Aspnes, Mariko Anraku, Marie-Pierre Langlamet and Caroline Lizotte. 

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She has also had the opportunity to perform with groups such as the McGill Symphony Orchestra, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble, the Georgian Bay Symphony, and the Orchestre Philharmonique des Musiciens de Montréal.  Alanna is also an alumni of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada with whom she travelled to Spain, Germany and Scotland. 

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She has been awarded on numerous occasions including a full scholarship for her studies at McGill University as well as a scholarship from the Toronto Harp Society. 

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Alanna has had the pleasure of premiering new music as a solo artist with a piece she commissioned from Toronto composer Mason Victoria, as well as an ensemble player with both large and small ensembles. She also enjoys arranging some of her favourite music for harp and other instruments such as a trio she arranged for flute, cello, and harp of the Forrest Gump Suite.