"Kerrod is a fearless improviser and experimentalist, using extended techniques in a fashion that would sound like mistakes in less sure hands." –Mike Eisenberg, Avant Music News
“[The] exceptionally virtuosic and sensitive harpist … drew many different tonal colors from her instrument.” –Timothy Hutton, Classical Source
Classically trained from the age of 9, South African harpist Jacqueline Kerrod has had a vibrant and varied career as a freelancer in New York City. She has played principal harp with top orchestras and performed with elite chamber groups, contemporary music ensembles, and pop superstars like Anohni, Rufus Wainwright and Kanye West.
Most recently, she has been touring internationally with composer and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, both in duo and as part of his ZIM music ensemble. She was a founding member and co-songwriter of the pop duo Addi & Jacq, who were winners of NYC's Battle of the Boroughs WNYC, and recently toured her show, “Harps Uncovered” featuring vocalist Hannah Sumner through 12 states of the US.
Kerrod has played with the likes of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Argento Chamber Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Wet Ink, Alarm Will Sound and Metropolis Chamber Ensemble; and has championed South African composers with more than a dozen works written for her. She has also played with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.
Described as an ‘eclectic harpist’ by Lucid Culture, her discography includes a recently released duo with Anthony Braxton on Italian label I dischi di Angelica, Braxton’s 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12 Records), 3 self produced albums with Addi & Jacq, Greg Spears' Requiem (New Amsterdam Records) and Paul’s Case (National Sawdust Tracks), Robert Paterson’s Star Crossing and Book of Goddesses (American Modern Recordings), and MAYA - In The Spirit (Perspectives Recordings). Other notable recordings that feature Jacqueline include Tristan Murail’s Winter Fragments (AEON), the single Crazy in Love by Antony and the Johnsons (Secretly Canadian/Rough Trade Records). Her recording, "Candlelight Carols" with Grammy®-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire debuted at #11 on the Classical Billboard charts.