Megan van Uffelen (2005) was born in Zwolle, the Netherlands. After seeing and hearing the harp for the first time on television, she completely fell in love with the harp. At the age of seven, she began playing the lever harp. When she was 12, Megan switched to the pedal harp.

Course

In Steenwijk, Megan took lessons for the first three years with Klarissa Zantinge, who reinforced her love for the harp. After moving back to Zwolle, Megan had three years of lessons with Liedewij Spruit. Switching to the pedal harp, Megan began taking harp lessons with Manja Smits. In September 2019, Megan was admitted to the Young Talent Class at the ArtEZ conservatoire in Zwolle. In September 2022 Megan started at the Preparatory course of the ArtEZ conservatoire where she continued her lessons with Manja Smits.

After a successful audition Megan was admitted to the Bachelor Classical Music - Main subject Harp at the ArtEZ conservatoire in September 2023. Here she obtained her Propaedeutic certificate without any retakes.

In November 2024, Megan auditioned to complete her Bachelor's at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world, and was offered a place on the spot. Megan may enter the second year as of September 2025 to complete her bachelor's degree here.

Masterclasses

In recent years Megan has taken several master classes with Masumi Nagasawa, Lavinia Meijer, Remy van Kesteren, Sylvain Blassel, Gesine Dreyer and others. In 2022, Megan was one of the selected harpists to participate in an “International Celebrity Masterclass” of the World Harp Congress that took place in Cardiff, Wales. Here she had a masterclass with Jana Bouskova.

Furthermore, from 2018 till 2021 Megan participated in a number of summer courses with Manja Smits and Masumi Nagasawa (Harp Summer Masterclass La Roche sur Foron). Additionally, in the summer of 2024, she participated in a summer course with Imogen Barford, Charlotte Seale and Keziah Thomas (IBACUS Course), the principal study teachers at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

Orchestras

Megan was excited about playing in orchestras from an early age. She started at age 8 in the “Jonge Vuurvogel” (for children under 14) and moved on to the Youth Symphony Orchestra the “Vuurvogel” at age 12, where the minimum age is officially 14. The Youth Symphony Orchestra plays a varied program throughout the year from classical music to film scores. Besides that, Megan has had the opportunity in this orchestra to develop in the area of important harp solos from the orchestral repertoire. One example is the educational concert on “Sleeping Beauty” featuring the music of Tchaikovsky, including the harp cadenza. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Handel harp concerto in B-flat major.

As of 2022, Megan regularly plays in concerts of the Groninger Student Music Company Bragi, then conducted by Alexander de Blaeij. With the orchestra, she has had the opportunity to play several pieces with important harp parts, such as Mahler's Fifth Symphony - Adagietto, Verdi's Overture “La forza del Destino” and Tchaikovsky 's Valse des Fleurs. She has also played pieces with this orchestra, such as Mahler 1 and Shostakovich' Symphony No.5. This year, Megan will continue to do concerts with this orchestra.

In recent years Megan has played with several orchestras and is still regularly approached by orchestras to fill in. One example is the East Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (ONSO) conducted by Jeppe Moulijn. With this orchestra she had the opportunity to play the first harp part in Debussy 's Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune and the second harp part in Wagner's Parsifal.

For the summer tour of 2023, Megan was asked to fill in for the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands and has held a permanent position as harpist ever since. She has since become first harpist, which in the summer of 2024 resulted in playing parts such as Ravel's solo “Tzigane,” which she also had the opportunity to perform at the Concertgebouw. She has also had the opportunity to play pieces such as Korngold's Violin Concerto in D, Le Poèm by Chausson and modern works such as Softly Bouncing by Padding.

In 2025, Megan will play with the Netherlands Film Orchestra, with music by John Williams, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer on the program.

Competitions

As of 2019, Megan has participated in a number of national and international competitions. Among others, she has participated in the Princess Christina Competition. The first international competition Megan participated in was the harp competition “Rencontres Internationales de la Harpe en Ile-de-France” (France). In the C2N4 category, she won the first prize. Her performance was rated “'Mention Très Bien avec Felicitations”. In October 2019, Megan participated in the 'International Harp Competition Velenje' (Slovenia). In category C she was awarded a bronze medal as well as the special jury award for: 'Best performance of a classical piece'.

In September 2020 Megan was a finalist in the Royal Concertgebouw Competition. Here she got to play in the “Kleine zaal” of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, after which she was asked to perform a lunch concert. In May 2021, she participated in the national Archipel Music Competition where she played in the semi-finals.

Because of COVID-19, Megan participated in a number of international online competitions, where she was awarded several prizes. Some examples include: London Young Musician Competition 2020 - 2021 - Season 4 where she received the “Gold prize and Award expressive performance”. Within the same competition, she received the third prize and the audience award in the “Young Artist” category in the final. In addition, at the Medici International Music Competition she received the first prize. A similar result she also achieved, among others, at the International Youth Music Competition - Classical Music - Artist of the Year - competition.

In the Classical Music Competition 2021 organized by Vienna Classical Music Academy she was invited to play the final in September 2021 at the Mozart House in Vienna based on her online entry. Her performance was rewarded with the first prize in the under-18 category.

In April 2022, she won the online VAYA International Music Festival Award category harp- 16 Years & Under.

In May 2022, Megan won the first prize in Category 2: 15 to 17 years (pedal harp) of the national Rosa Spier Harp Competition and the prize for best performance of the mandatory work.

In early 2025, Megan was one of the finalists of Open Podium Overijssel, the talent competition for Performing Arts.

Concerts

In addition to participating in competitions and playing with orchestra’s, Megan has enjoyed performing since a young age.

She has often been involved in events and concerts during her school years. As early as elementary school, for example, she played her first concerts for “Sinterklaas” and in the Christmas celebration. During high school this only increased, for example, she has played with several final music exams of fellow students. Currently she is very involved within ArtEZ during her studies, through projects, open days, final exams and chamber music.

In addition to her studies, Megan is active with solo concerts. She truly enjoys giving different types of concerts to introduce people to the harp as a solo instrument. For example, she regularly gives living room concerts for both the immediate community and by invitation. She plays at many different venues, from intimate dinner parties to large concert halls.

Some of the most impactful concerts she has done was playing at the PCC Classic Express at the invitation of the Princess Christina Competition. She got to play for this several times, for students from regular primary education to special education to young refugees. The beauty of this, is that each group came together and was introduced to music in an approachable and intimate way.

In recent years Megan has had the opportunity to perform regularly in nursing homes and residential care centers, both solo and with a (project) ensemble. For both Megan and the audience, these performances are warm and valuable experiences.

Megan has also accompanied choirs on several occasions, including the “Ceremony of Carols” by Benjamin Britten, and plays with several ensembles. For example, she is active with her harp-flute duo and this year she started a harp trio consisting of harp, violin and cello.

Finally, she had the opportunity to play during the “Stadsdialoog” and the New Year's Meeting in a full large hall of Theater de Spiegel in Zwolle, organized by the government of Zwolle. The special thing about the New Year's Meeting was the experience of having only women on stage, with this a conscious “statement” was made by the organization.

If you're curious about my upcomming concerts, please check out my concertagenda. 

If you want to contact me regarding a possible concert (solo or orchestra), please contact me via "contact" on this website.