Praised for her “soulful” and “eloquent” playing (Musical America), Decca US Recording Artist harpist Ashley Jackson enjoys a multifaceted career as a highly sought-after musician and collaborator. Replenishing and immersive, her most recent album Take Me to the Water embraces the transportive heft of the harp, conjuring a radiant vision of a world anchored by hope and brighter days. Her highly-acclaimed debut album Ennaga garnered worldwide acclaim for its consideration of American music and its roots in Black spirituality. Nate Chinen (WRTI) praised: “Ennanga is a gemlike offering precisely because she balances her instrument and its expressive potential against that moral calling, framing each gesture in personal terms.” 

As a soloist, she has performed at Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn! and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Qatar Philharmonic, and is a member of the Harlem Chamber Players.

Throughout her academic and professional careers, Ashley has demonstrated a commitment to diversity and inclusion within higher education and the performing arts, firmly believing that a deeper understanding of cultural and ethnic diversity is critical to intellectual and artistic development. Her groundbreaking research on composer Margaret Bonds culminated in the release of the album, The Ballad of the Brown King and Selected Songs (Avie Records) on which she is a featured performer, as well as the author of the liner notes. Some of her other writings include “Envisioning an Anti-Racist Vision for the Arts: The Arabella Freeman Series” in Hilary Harkness: Everything for You, and “Envisioning an Anti-Racist Vision for Classical Music” for Channel THIRTEEN | New York Public Media. 

Her speaking engagements have included “How Have Innovative Women Challenged Orchestral Norms,” a panel discussion for The Unanswered Question series (NY Philharmonic), “1960: Margaret Bonds and a Message for Civil Rights” (Juilliard), “Affinities: Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes,” (Studio Museum of Harlem) and “Representation as Resistance: How an Activist Orchestra Redresses the Push-out of Black Practitioners from Classical Music” (Harvard University). 

She is currently an Assistant Professor and the Director of Performance for the Music Department at Hunter College, where she teaches chamber music, harp, and courses such as Arts in New York City and Storytelling through Performance.

Ashley holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University.