Kristan Toczko

Who is Kristan Toczko?

As one of Canada’s premier harpists, Kristan Toczko is recognized for her radiant tone, expressive music making, and scintillating virtuosity. A first place winner of the prestigious OSM Standard Life Competition, Kristan has also been named a CBC Radio-Canada Young Artist, and featured as a soloist in national broadcast.

Concerts and Features

Performing numerous concerts, Kristan has been featured with the Vancouver Symphony, l'Orchestre Francophonie, Kingston Symphony, and Bathurst Chamber Music Festival. Kristan has also been a featured artist with several festivals including the Ottawa ChamberFest, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Kincardine Summer Music Festival, Indian River Festival, and Rio Harp Festival in Brazil, and has been an invited artist at the Banff Centre numerous summers. She has also performed with several orchestras internationally, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony, Windsor Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Symphony New Brunswick, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Jalisco Philharmonia, and Beijing Symphony.

She has also participated in summer festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Orchestra of the Americas, Scotia Festival, and Lucerne Festival Academy. Kristan has performed with esteemed artists such as Measha Brueggergosman, Peter Oundjian, Matthias Pintscher, Sir Simon Rattle, and Barbara Hannigan, and has played in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the KKL Luzern Concert Hall, and Roy Thomson Hall. Kristan has also been seen sharing the stage with acclaimed artists Sarah Brightman, Josh Groban, Evanescence, Lindsey Stirling, Sarah McLachlan, and Johnny Reid.

Academic Life

Kristan holds degrees from McGill University and Yale University, where she was awarded first prize in both schools’ concerto competitions.

In 2020, Kristan was appointed the position of Northern Ontario Regional Representative to serve on the Board of Directors with the Ontario Harp Society.

As a chamber musician, she is a founding member of harp duo “Duo Novus.” They have held an artist residency at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, have commissioned several new works, and have toured internationally with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Off-stage presence

As an advocate for her profession, Kristan joined the social media platform TikTok in 2020 and within less than a year grew her channel to over 800,000 followers. Now with hundreds of thousands of followers across her social media channels, she actively works as a Content Creator to arrange and record covers from classical to pop to video game music, and creates educational videos about the harp.

Kristan currently publishes her own arrangements and is often hired for various recording projects. Since becoming a social media sensation, she has proudly partnered with several brands including RØDE Microphones, Peterson Strobe Tuners, Soundbrenner Metronomes, EA Games, Musicnotes.com, Bow Brand Strings, Lyon & Healy / Salvi Harps, Hollywood Records, among many others.
When not on stage, Kristan teaches one-on-one harp and piano lessons through her online studio.