ROSELYN LEWIS
Executive Director
Roselyn Lewis is co-founder and Executive Director of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble which was founded in 2000 at Brown Middle School. She is retired as choral music teacher in Atlanta Public Schools after a stellar career spanning forty years.
As part of her duties with the UYHE, Ms. Lewis manages the Board of Directors, serves as the primary grant writer and oversees the operation of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble.
She is a graduate of Hampton University located in Hampton, Virginia with a BS in music education. She holds a MS degree in education from Cambridge College, Boston, MA. Roselyn began her teaching career in 1968 at David T. Howard High School in Atlanta. Ms. Lewis is the recipient of numerous awards associated with her teaching career. She taught elementary music for the Department of Defense Dependent School in Germany from 1973-1977. She is the founding director of the Handbell Music Ministry at Friendship Baptist Church for over 40 years. During her teaching career, Roselyn was elected twice as Elementary Division Chair of the Georgia Music Educators Association. Ms. Lewis is an active member of the American Harp Society, Handbell Musicians of America and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
In retirement, she has devoted her time, energy and passion to the success of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble.
MOLLY O'ROARK
Artistic Director
Dr. Molly O’Roark, a native of Memphis, TN, is a dynamic performer and composer known for crafting exciting and energetic programs that showcase her love of music and the harp as well as enhancing the traditional concert experience. Currently based in Atlanta, GA, Dr. O’Roark serves as a full-time Artistic Director with the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble. In her performing career she has won various awards and competitions including: 2014 National Anne Adams Award, 2014 Artist Presentation Society Auditions, Eastman School of Music concerto competition, Wayne Barlow Award for excellence in Harp Performance. As a composer, Dr. O’Roark likes to weave melodic and sometimes theatrical narratives into her works for harps or mixed ensembles. In October 2017, she was a featured composer at Michigan Harp Day where she premiered her commissioned harp ensemble work “Apollo at the Temple of Delphi” at Michigan State University.
Dr. O’Roark is one half of the theatrical and comedic harp duo, Ginger & Spice, with Ann McLaughlin. Ginger & Spice have been featured performers at the 2016 American Harp Society National Conference in Atlanta, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and guest lecturers in the Physics Department at the University of Illinois. They are known for their choreography, arrangements, costumes, and “four-hands-one-harp” technique. She also performs with MEMO, a flute and harp duo, with award-winning flutist, Elisa Moles, specializing in engaging performances of twentieth- century works.
Dr. O’Roark received a Master’s of Music in Harp Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the studio of Dr. Ann Yeung, she served as the harp studio teaching assistant for three years working with both the harp majors and elective lessons program. Recently, she received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. O’Roark’s undergraduate degree was a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance, Performer’s Certificate, and Arts Leadership Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.
DR. JENNIFER JOY BETZER
Teaching Artist
Jennifer Betzer was appointed an Instructor for the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble in the Fall of 2021. She previously held positions as the Harp Teaching Fellow for the University of North Texas and Harp Director in Frisco ISD in Texas.
Jennifer has been privileged to study and perform abroad in Austria, Australia, Italy, China, and Brazil. She toured with UNT’s harp ensemble The Harpbeats and as the Principal Harpist with the Sydney Sinfonia.
Jennifer obtained her Bachelor of Music degree at Vanderbilt University, her Master of Music Performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and her Doctor of Musical Arts from The University of North Texas. Her doctoral dissertation, "The Innovation and Influence of Jazz Harpist Dorothy Ashby" was published in the Spring of 2020.
Jennifer’s most recent publications are “The Enduring Legacy of Dorothy Ashby,” an article in The American Harp Journal’s Summer of 2021 issue and the original harp ensemble compositions “Surviving Milestones,” and “Spellbound in Snow” with Harp Column Music.
In summer, Jennifer regularly performs at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.