President

Calvin Arsenia

Calvin Arsenia is the President of the Kansas City Lyra Chapter of the American Harp Society, a position he assumed in July 2026. A Kansas City-based harpist, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Arsenia began playing the harp at 20 years old, teaching himself before traveling to Scotland to study with harp teachers. Over the past two decades, the instrument has taken him from Kansas City to stages across the United States and internationally. His work has expanded the harp beyond its expected surroundings, placing it alongside contemporary music, performance, storytelling, and a wide range of collaborators.

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Arsenia’s unconventional entry into the instrument continues to inform his relationship with the harp. Without a traditional musical upbringing centered around the instrument, he approached it first through curiosity and experimentation, discovering its possibilities by figuring things out for himself. That experience has remained central to his artistic practice: he is interested in what happens when an instrument carries its history with it without being confined by it. His work treats the harp as both an ancient object and a contemporary voice—capable of intimacy, theatricality, vulnerability, and unexpected power.

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Arsenia has been part of the Kansas City Lyra Chapter for eleven years and has served on its board for more than three. As president, he hopes to strengthen the chapter as a place for musicians to meet, learn from one another, perform, and develop new ideas around the harp. His vision includes broader educational opportunities, stronger connections between professional and amateur players, meaningful pathways for young musicians, and greater visibility for the harp within Kansas City’s cultural life. At its heart, his work with the chapter is about making the instrument—and the community surrounding it—large enough to welcome the people who have not yet found their way to it.

Vice-President

Joy Hervey

Joy Hervey is a multi‑instrumentalist, harpist, and music educator whose musical journey began at age five under the guidance of her mother. Coming from a highly musical family, she developed early talent in performing, arranging, and composing, eventually studying piano, clarinet, oboe, flute, cello, and harp. She began harp at fourteen after earning placement in the All‑City Honor Band and being encouraged to pursue the instrument.

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She has performed with major ensembles across the Kansas City region, including the Kansas City Youth Symphonies, Liberty Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Wind Symphony, Crossroads Wind Symphony, and the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, where she serves as Principal Harpist and librarian. Her experience also includes work with the A‑Flat Youth Orchestra, KMEA Orchestra, Gladstone Theatre in the Park, and numerous community and special events such as weddings, funerals, benefit concerts, recordings, and a medical airlift mission to Russia.

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With 19 years of teaching experience, Ms. Hervey began instructing harp at the Northland Cathedral School of Music and later founded the W.M. Hervey O’Hogan Music Academy, home of her youth ensemble, the Harp Gang. She teaches both children and adults, fostering creativity and joy in music education.

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She studied at William Jewell College, Kansas City Kansas Community College, and Oklahoma Christian University, and plans to pursue a Master’s and Doctorate in Music Education. She treasures time with her family and continues to write, arrange, and develop her musical ideas.

Secretary and Historian

Brooke Knoll

Brooke Knoll is a harpist, arts administrator, and radio host based in Kansas City, Missouri.

A student of classical harp as well as the Suzuki method, Brooke has experience performing in orchestral and solo settings. A lifelong learner, she seeks to find ways in which the harp can break convention and elicit new emotions from listeners while also employing traditional sonorities. She has previously played with the Roseville String Ensemble and Topeka Symphony. She currently performs as part of the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society as an improviser and collaborator of contemporary music and teaches lessons to students of all ages.​​

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Brooke is a graduate of the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, receiving a B.S.B. with majors in Entrepreneurship, Public Non-Profit Management, and Harp. She also holds an M.A. in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from University College Dublin.

She has studied harp with Kathy Kienzle, Phala Tracy, and Nikki Lemire.

Treasurer

Sydney DiLeo

Among her many passions, Sydney sees the harp as a tool which gives her the freedom that she desires for self expression. Her dedication and commitment to the harp has opened several personal and professional doors throughout her life. 

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Since 2021 she has been a part of the KC Lyra Chapter and has even held administrative positions within the Chapter, such as President and Treasurer, in order to help diversify the activities and events that connect the community of harpists within Kansas City and nearby communities. 

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Sydney strives to continue to grow as a harpist, so that through the harp, she can continue to impact people with the magic that is in music performance.