By hearing the leading tune of the former Dutch broadcasting programme "De jeugd vliegt uit" at the age of four, Erika Waardenburg fell in love with the Harp. Now, Erika is one of the most prominent harpists in the Netherlands.At the conservatories of Utrecht and Brussels she studied with Edward Witsenburg and Susanna Mildonian; she graduated with distinctions of the highest class: the Premier Prix and the Prix d'Exellence.At the age of twenty-three she won the prestigious International Gaudeamus Concours for contemporary music and the Vriendenkrans, a distinction awarded by the concert hall of Amsterdam, Het Concertgebouw.

Erika Waardenburg has made her mark both nationally and internationally; as a soloist, performing works for harp and orchestra with conductors such as David Porcelijn, Graham Jenkins and Ernest Bour, as part of many chamber music ensembles but also giving recitals. Her concerts are frequently recorded for radio and television, and CD recordings have been made of some of her best performances.As a versatile harpist, Erika Waardenburg not only has the ambition to bring the often well-known romantic repertoire before a wide audience, but she is also interested in introducing the audience to the lesser-known contemporary works of composers such as Murray Shaefer, Alberto Ginastera and Jaqueline Fontijn, all of whom are concerned with placing the harp in a new perspective in modern music literature. She furthermore encourages composers to write more music for the harp.

Besides of performing and encouraging music for the harp, Erika Waardenburg is passionated by music education. She is a professor of Harp at the conservatories of Utrecht, Amsterdam and Helsinki, and is much in demand. At the same time she gives Master Classes for young talented harpists both within and outside the Netherlands, e.g. at the 'Mozarteum' in Salzburg and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her greatest accomplishment in her teaching career is the founding of the young talent class, enabling very young harpists to study under her guidance, raising their standards to unprecedented heights. Many national (Christina Concourse) and international prizes are a testimony to her outstanding achievements as a teacher (Israel, Geneva, Lille, Bloomington).Erika is vice-president of the Dutch Harp Association; she is co-founder and artistic director of the Academie voor Muzikaal Talent in the Netherlands.

E-Mail: erikawaardenburg@hotmail.com.