Michael Steadman

Michael is a very talented harpist. He is very professional, is dressed beautifully (black tux) and very polite. Guests commented on the music at my daughter’s wedding. My daughter wanted some very specific music played at her wedding. Michael even transcribed the music for one of her special songs. We would highly recommend Michael. He is wonderful!

Michael bailed out on our wedding three weeks before the event after we booked him 5 months in advance. He apologized by saying that it had never happened before (well, what do we care? We only get married once so this ruined the experience for us). He did provide a referral who turned out to be great! I have to say we were panicked and this was THE last thing we needed three weeks before a wedding.
I guess life happens and things happen. Up until that point he had been on top of our correspondence by email and very polite and nice. We never got to hear his great music and probably never will.

Michael performed for my wedding on October 5^th, 2013 at The Mountain Terrace in Woodside. Michael was responsive and professional through the planning process and made our wedding that more special with his beautiful music and harp. We hired Michael to play during dinner on the redwood deck outside and it was just lovely. I highly recommend Michael for any wedding or event you have coming up where you would like to add a bit of class. Thank you Michael!

I love the harp with all my heart, so you can imagine how happy I was to know such a talented musician could play it for my wedding ceremony. He was so easy to work with and professional — and classy. I am so thankful I found Michael and he connected also with a violinist who played with him. I can’t wait to hear them in the wedding video that will hopefully be coming my way soon…
You won’t be disappointed, and I’m a picky person — so that’s saying a lot!

Michael played for our wedding in April of 2011. He was awesome! The main thing that really stands out for me is Michael’s professionalism. He really cares about preparing and getting it right! Very friendly, flexible and not pretentious. Oh, and his harp playing is fantastic also…
I would not hesitate to recommend Michael to a friend for their wedding or any other event…

Michael Steadman played at our June 2011 wedding in Oakland. We sent him a few requests before hand, and he was able to take that and fill in as much similar, appropriate music as we needed. He was completely professional, had very reasonably prices, showed up on time, and played beautifully! We couldn’t be happier!

Michael played harp for our wedding ceremony at Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park on 6−18−11. We scheduled a meeting with him two months ahead of time to talk about kind of musics we will like to have according to theme of the ceremony, he suggested all the musics and demonstrated them to us at the meeting. Our guests loved Michael’s performance during the ceremony. And we forever remembered how well his music pieces transitioned from each segment of our program seamlessly at exact time. And «Kiss the Rain» in harp play is locked in our memory during the sand ceremony. Thank you, Michael for being there, and we truly appreciate your professionalism.

Michael played at our wedding on 10-​10-​2010 at The Conservatory of Flowers here in San Francisco. He was excellent.
Michael was very easy to work with. As I was planning the wedding, we had a great discussion to review and select which music best suited our ceremony. And I had a special request, as well, which was for him to accompany my sister in singing a song she had arranged. He graciously agreed and it was beautiful, the day of our wedding, to see him help her through a sound check before the ceremony.
On our wedding day, Michael played a lovely arrangement while guests assembled on the sunny lawn of The Conservatory. During our procession, he played a piece from A Room with a View; one that you can sample here at his website:
It really was the perfect music for the occasion. I’m grateful that Michael knew this favourite of mine to play that day!
After the ceremony, Michael played inside The Conservatory, itself. It is a delightful space to fill with harp music and I can’t imagine a kinder or more courteous harpist than Michael. Our guests enjoyed his playing and had so many kind compliments for him. He was truly wonderful to have as part of our wedding!

I hired Michael for my Wedding. He was super easy to work with. I met with him in personand he was very helpful in recomending what music to play. You see I’m the groom and don’t know a think about wedding music. During our consultation I mentioned I was incorporating chinese elements into the ceromony and he learned new music just to play for that time for us. The proof was that I got alot of compliments after the ceremony.
thank you Michael!

Hmmm, not so much.
I was super excited about finding Michael via Unilocal and his great reputation for being professional. Honestly, these qualities are alot more important to me than actual harp playing skills.
Don’t get me wrong — I do assume a baseline of musical ability here, but let’s be honest people, there aren’t that many professional harp players out there and the ones I encountered previously were more creative, less business type personalities. My event’s success is greater influenced by a harpist actually showing up, being responsive, and accountable, than their extensive repertoire and accuracy of Bach’s greatest hits.
And if any of our wedding guests feel differently — bring it. Someone actually providing feedback on the musical talent of the harpist at your wedding is grounds for years of ridicule and totally worth the trade. I digress.
With my intentions outlined above, you can imagine how super stoked I was to find Michael’s posting here on Unilocal and how people were specifically raving about these qualities.
I went to his ultra professional website and thought — wow, I have found my harpist. I emailed him requesting pricing and availability, he promptly responding with pricing (pretty reasonable as far as harpists go) and that he may have a conflict with our wedding date as it was the same as the West Bay Opera, and he would know better in the next few months (this was mid Feb).
I was sad, as the combo of Unilocal reviews + professional website + timely and accountable response + evidence of musically legitimacy of playing in an Opera had made me fall even harder for this harp man. I asked him to keep us posted on availability and made a mental note to check back in.
I consciously held my horses for the «couple months» that Michael had indicated and waited until April. I had told my mom about him (standard crush protocol), and she wanted to talk to him since she works for a realty company that he had referenced on his website as having played events for. I suggested she give him a call.
A few weeks later she said she had never heard back. I thought that was odd since he had replied so quickly to me and had indicated he would be eager to work with us if availability allowed. It had been two months since my initial inquiry, so I thought I’d try following up as well. Sent him an email on April 12^th saying we still wanted to work with him and wondering if he knew his availability better. No response.
A week later, after both my mom and my unreturned emails, I wondered if it was time to move on from my potential harp man and consider if I could do better. It was ultimatum time. I sent one last email to Michael indicating that we really wanted to work with him but needed to get music locked down soon and to please respond if any interest. That was two weeks ago, no response. Maybe he had been out of town? But ignoring his primary mode of business contact for weeks? I’d like to make up excuses, but it’s hard to ignore four unreturned requests.
I was really surprised at the lack of response, but I’m glad I found this out now instead of after booking him. In searching for another harpist on CL, I found an updated posting from him dated last week, so there goes the out of town theory. Sigh. There must have been someone else.

Michael performed at my wedding, during dinner, and he did a beautiful job! He was dressed for the occasion, polite, and very professional when doing business, especially since we did everything over e-​mail and postal. He is trustworthy and keeps his word. Plus, as a bride on a strict budget, we were able to work out with payments. I highly recommend him for any special event. He is professional, trustful and his skills as a harpist are beautiful.

After searching high and low for a Harpist that was available and accommodable, I came across Michael’s craigslist ad and thought I’d give him a shot. He was very cordial, reasonable, and professional over the phone. I was hiring someone to play my brother’s wedding, and I, being a professional musician with experience in the wedding biz, wanted to find someone who knew what he/​she was doing. Michael was all that and then some. He knew exactly how to accommodate our budget, the small space we were using, and style of ceremony. We also didn’t include him in any sort of rehearsal, so he just had to wing it, and pulled it off gracefully. The music was so beautiful, and added so much to the special day. I’d definitely hire Michael again in the future.

Michael played for our wedding in the Presidio, at the Chapel of Our Lady in September. Because this chapel doesn’t have a piano the harp was the perfect solution for our wedding. It set a lovely mood and he brought an amplifier to help with sound. It worked out perfectly. He has incredible skill as a musician and offered great suggestions for the pieces at the wedding. Very professional, responsive and extremely polite!

I found Michael on Craigslist and I’m not sure why someone hasn’t reviewed him on here already. He performed at my wedding and was perfect! We had a small wedding at Fort Mason Chapel and the Chapel doesn’t come with an organist or a sound system. His harp playing was the perfect addition to an otherwise simple, no frills wedding. Not to sound superficial, but he really looked the part. He had a beautiful harp, and he is a handsome guy in a nice suit. Just right for a wedding. He was on time, played what we agreed on, and was right on cue. We didn’t even have a rehearsal, so I was really relying on him and the minister to know what they were doing. I highly recommend him.