At the age of 7 Heleen Nijenhuis started her piano lessons with Jan Lingen en Henny van Es. When she was 16 she won 2 prizes in the Prinses Christina Concours and started to teach piano lessons.

She studied classical piano (and one year Jazz piano) with Else Krijgsman, Geoffrey Madge and Rob van Kreeveld. In 1990 she joined the Theatre Company Stella The Hague and played in several Theatre performances in the Netherlands and in Europe.

She also played in different programs of the Percussion Group The Hague and went with them to the Expo ‘92 in Sevilla. She has regularly performances with her sister, violinist Martine Nijenhuis, flautist Mirjam Teepe (with whom she founded the Haagse Muziekcentrale), the singers of La Familia and other ensembles.

She has a private piano studio at home and is a coach pianist (and secondary subject piano teacher) at the Royal Conservatory.