Anna Kate Mackle is the principal harpist of the Eastern Festival of Music, after having served as principal harpist of the now defunct Eastern Music Festival for 25 seasons. She is also the principal harpist of The Florida Orchestra in The Dick and Helen Minck Chair, a position she has held since 1999. Mackle is Lecturer in Harp at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and is an adjunct professor of harp at St. Petersburg College and a guest harp teacher at Howard W. Blake School of the Arts in Tampa, Florida. Prior to joining The Florida Orchestra she served as principal harpist of The New World Symphony, the Colorado Music Festival, the Spoleto Festivals of Music in Italy and the U.S., the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and is formerly an instructor at the Interlochen Arts Camp.
Mackle is a six-time concerto soloist with The Florida Orchestra, and, along with her husband, EFM and TFO principal percussionist John Shaw, is a founding member of the Mackle Shaw Duo, a chamber music duo that commissions and performs music for harp and percussion. The Mackle Shaw Duo has been awarded commissioning grants from the City of St. Petersburg, the New World Symphony, Creative Pinellas, The Palladium Theater St. Petersburg, and the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance to commission works from such composers as Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Mattea Williams, Michael Ippolito, Daniel Black, Nathan Daughtrey, and The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker.
Mackle received a Bachelor of Music degree, cum laude, from Baldwin-Wallace University, and a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Alice Chalifoux during both degree programs. Mackle is currently the Vice President of the American Federation of Musicians Local 427-721, and in her spare time she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her cats, Brian and Steve.