Maya Lai will be continuing her Harp Performance studies at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, studying with Joan Holland in the fall. Previously, Maya studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, pursuing her Bachelor's Degree in Harp Performance as a student of Yolanda Kondonassis. 

She has performed with numerous orchestras such as The Phoenix Symphony, The Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, The Las Vegas Young Artists Orchestra, the Round Top Festival Institute Orchestra, and the Texas Music Festival Orchestra. She was a soloist with the Henderson (NV) Symphony Orchestra after winning First Place in the 2022 Henderson Concerto Competition, and was a featured composer with the American Harp Society’s “Young Composers Project” in 2019. Committed to engaging with her community and supporting worthy causes, she presented a solo benefit concert in 2023 that raised over $4000 for the Children’s Advocacy Center Foundation. Maya Lai began studying the harp at age nine in Phoenix, Arizona, where she was a student of Stephen Hartman.

Maya is also the 2025 recipient of the American Harp Society’s Ruth Wickersham Papalia Scholarship Award. Most recently Maya is the winner of the 2025 Mitchell-Hogg Competition, jointly organized by the Texas Music Festival and the Houston Symphony. As part of her prize, Maya will perform as a featured soloist in one of the Houston Symphony’s concerts during the 2025-2026 season.