Ann Hobson Pilot is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music.  She became principal harp of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1980, having joined the BSO in 1969 as assistant principal harp and principal harp with the Boston Pops. Previously she was substitute second harp with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and principal harp of Washington, D.C.’s  National Symphony Orchestra.  Ms. Pilot also has had an extensive solo career; she has performed as a soloist with many American orchestras, as well as with orchestras in Europe, Haiti, New Zealand, and South Africa. She has several recordings available on the Boston Records label, as well as on the Koch International and Denouement labels.

Ms. Pilot is the recipient of a Doctor of Fine Arts from Bridgewater State College. In 1998 and 1999 she was featured in a video documentary sponsored by the Museum of Afro-American History and WGBH, aired nationwide on PBS, about her personal musical journey as well as her African journey to find the roots of the harp. In September 1999 she traveled to London to record, with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Harp Concerto by the young American composer Kevin Kaska, a work that she commissioned.

Ms. Pilot is on the faculties of New England Conservatory, Boston University, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She is a member of the contemporary music ensemble Collage New Music and has also performed with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and the Marlboro, Newport, and Sarasota music festivals, among others. Her solo performances with the BSO have included her solo debut in Mozart’s Concerto in C for Flute and Harp at Tanglewood in July 1972 and Debussy’s Danses Sacrée et profane with Charles Dutoit in July 1999. Her solo appearances in the 2005-06 season include performances with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Indian Hill Chamber Orchestra, and Boston Classical Orchestra.