Looking back

I look back with many positive memories on my time at KC. I was fortunate with my harp teachers; they were supportive but also challenged me. I also feel like I built friendships for life with some schoolmates, and I believe this is so valuable! I also really enjoyed the collaborations with the composition department, which I think is something very special at the Conservatory of The Hague.

After graduation

After my graduation from NAIP, my professional practice was a bit split in two. On one side, I went on with my music projects and worked towards performances in fantastic festivals; on the other side, I was working as an assistant architect at the Dutch firm Braaksma & Roos in The Hague, getting back into my other passion, which is architecture. This combination has been great, and even though after a couple of years I chose to work full-time in music, I’ve learned so much out of it, and I’m sure at some point my background in architecture will come back in some other form. I also continued specializing in early music in The Hague and later at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. Currently, my performance practice is shaped between early music, collaborating with various ensembles as a basso continuo player, and contemporary music, collaborating with composers on new works; and I enjoy working on my own projects. I’m also happy to be back at the Royal Conservatory coaching students of the classical department on their Master Projects and curating the professional preparation course for Bachelor 4 students.

Connecting music across different genres

I feel like I have been taking artistic choices very instinctively. I enjoy working with composers on something completely new, something that talks about today, and at the same time, I can get completely lost in historical research. If we are talking about audiences, stages, and professional networks, often those genres feel each contained in its own ‘box’. This is of course great because it can become so specialized, but for me, there is a stronger connection. My best performances are when I have the freedom to actually go beyond those borders and connect the music on a deeper level, let it be an idea, a text, a music form, or even through architecture.

Building projects through KC networks

I love playing in an ensemble, and I think the Conservatory is a great place to meet other artists and start new collaborations. Sometimes, for me, there was in the first place a friendship, only afterward we worked together towards a project. Other times, I had a very clear idea of what kind of project I wanted to start, and I found within KC like-minded artists who wanted to join me. One example is my graduation project from NAIP, back in 2018. Inspired by the Five Etudes for harp, double bass, and percussion by Sofia Gubaidulina, I started a trio with this setting. We performed at my final exam new compositions by five composers and continued collaborating with the composition department the year after my graduation, presenting those works at festivals like Gaudeamus and Nieuwe Noten Amsterdam. I still like to work together with the people I met during my studies when I have the chance!

Reaching new audiences through DSPs

Last summer, I performed at Down The Rabbit Hole, a program for harp and voice with Isabel Pronk. DTRH is a big festival with many performances across different genres, and we were playing a dreamy morning set to kick off the first festival day. We played some Manuel de Falla, Duke Ellington, but also new music by composers of our age. The setting and the audience were so different from a traditional classical music concert; I really loved the warm energy—it was so much fun! What is also nice about it is that the festival makes an official playlist on Spotify every year, including all artists participating in that year's edition. Their 2024 playlist has more than 14,800 saves, and people going to the festival listen to it in the months before to get into the festival vibe. My recording of ‘Fos Anesperon’ got selected by their curators and entered this playlist, so my recording was suddenly in the same playlist as artists such as Eefje de Visser, Aurora, and L’Imperatrice! I am not (yet) very active on DSPs, but it’s great to see that it can help classical music reach new audiences. Especially in my case, an audience that would usually not listen to contemporary classical music got to hear this pearl for harp by Calliope Tsoupaki.

Looking ahead to 2025

A few highlights for 2025: there will be a new premiere with my trio—harp, double bass, and percussion—and I’m excited to join a project by Kate Moore at Gaudeamus. I’m also working on a solo recital on historical harps and an ensemble project where I’m reconstructing early baroque songs in the Spanish language from Neapolitan sources, surviving on a songbook owned by a harpist of that time… so plenty of projects already to look forward to!