Mieneke van der Velden studied with Wieland Kuijken in The Hague and completed her studies in 1988 with the Performer’s Diploma. She is one of Northern Europe’s most sought-after gambists, and, in conjunction with a wide-ranging career in chamber music, appears regularly as a soloist with various well-known orchestras including the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ton Koopman), Concerto Vocale (René Jacobs), Collegium Vocale (Philippe Herreweghe), Netherlands Bach Society, and Cantus Cölln (Konrad Junghänel),.

In her solo recitals she collaborates with Glen Wilson (harpsichord) and Fred Jacobs (theorbo). She was engaged by the Dutch Early Music Network, Het Grachtenfestival, Bach Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival, Festival of Flanders as well as by many other concert organisations throughout Europe.

Her repertoire extends from French solo repertoire (Marais, Forqueray, Couperin), solo arias from the St. Matthew and St. John’s Passions, and other cantatas by J. S. Bach, viola da gamba sonatas and violoncello solo suites by J. S. Bach, 17th-century English repertoire including lyra-viol music, to contemporary pieces by Heppener and others.

She has recorded three CDs for the Dutch label “Channel Classics”, receiving an outstandingly positive critical reception.

Mieneke van der Velden is a full professor of viola da gamba on the faculty of the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory. She plays two original French instruments, a bass viol made in 1617 by Antoine Despont, Paris, and a pardessus de viole made by Ludovic Guersan, Paris, 1768.