My work as a harpist is very diverse; I play solo concerts and intermezzo's, play in orchestras and with choirs and am asked to play background music on many occasions, varying from weddings to funerals.

Apart from playing I love teaching the harp to both children and adults. I have a private practice in Nijmegen and teach at the music schools in Dieren (NL) and Kleve (Germany). Apart from the regular harp lessons I also teach workshops on subjects like therapeutic harp playing, improvisation or music theory for harp.

In my band Faerydae I play many different styles of folk music: Irish/Celtic and Swedish or music from the Balkans. I have also played on recordings of several artists from New Age music to singer/songwriter.

I got my first harp lesson from Diana de Vries (harpist of the Gelders Orchestra) at the age of 10. After graduating high school I moved to Maastricht to study harp with Masumi Nagasawa at the conservatory there and graduated in 2002. During and after my studies I took master classes and workshops with many different harpists (see below). In February 2006 I successfully finished the first Dutch jazz-harp course at the Codarts conservatory in Rotterdam.

Since August 2009 I am a Certified Therapeutic Harp Practitioner, after getting my degree from the International Harp Therapy Program in the United States. My interest in the therapeutic use of harp music was peeked at an early age. From the age of twelve, I regularly play at a nursing home in Nijmegen and notice the calming effect my music had on the residents there. Elderly people that would usually roam the halls of the institution came to sit with me and listen to the harp. Even the staff on the wards that I played in told me that they experience more calm while I play.

After getting my diploma in classical harp I developed an interest in folk music. At first this was mainly music from the Celtic countries, but later it came to be music from all of Europe. I started playing Irish music, taking workshops and going to harp festivals. In my teaching I use a lot of my experience with Irish/Celtic music and I also perform this music regularly with both Faerydae and the Wild Geese. In order to help spread the Celtic music and the Celtic harp, Jeanette van Nieulande and I started the International Harp Friends Meeting: a 3-day folk harp festival.

I also volunteer as an editor for the Folk Harp Folks!, the quarterly magazine of the Dutch Folk Harp Association. This way I hope to be able to help promote the Celtic harp in the Netherlands

Education:

- 1988-1997 lessons with Diana de Vries

- 1997-1998 pre-conservatory Arnhem

- 1998-2000 Therapeutic Music Practitioner, conservatory Maastricht

- 1999-2002 Teaching Degree Harp, conservatory Maastricht

- 2006 certificate Jazz-harp course Codarts conservatory, Rotterdam

- 2009 certificate International Harp Therapy Program (USA)



Workshops with:

- Mariëlle Nordmann (classical)

- Park Stickney & Carol Mc Laughlan (jazz)

- Christina Tourin (therapeutic harp)

- Graínne Hambly & Laoise Kelley (Irish music)

- Tristan le Govic, Dimitri Boekhoorn, Clothilde Trouillaud & Quentin Vestur (Breton music)

- Ailie Robertson, Charlotte Peterson, Cheyenne Brown (Scottish music)

- Erik Ask-Upmark (Swedish music)