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 harp on the lever harp. When she was 12, Megan switched to the pedal harp.

Megan enjoys being able to play pieces from different eras, with a slight preference for the Romantic period.

Course

In Steenwijk, Megan enjoyed her first three years of lessons 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 playing the pedal harp, Megan started taking harp lessons from Manja Smits. In September 2019, Megan was admitted to the Jong Talent class of the ArtEZ conservatory in Zwolle. In September 2022, Megan started the Preparatory course of the ArtEZ conservatory where she continued her lessons with Manja Smits.

After a successful audition, Megan was admitted to the Bachelor Classical Music - Main subject Harp program at the ArtEZ conservatory in September 2023. Here she will continue her lessons with Manja Smits.

Masterclasses

In recent years Megan has attended several masterclasses with Masumi Nagasawa, Lavinia Meijer, Remy van Kesteren, Chantal Mathieu, Pierre-Michel Vigneau. In 2022, Megan was one of the selected harpists invited to attend an "International Celebrity Masterclass" of the World Harp Congress which took place in Cardiff, Wales. Here she attended a masterclass with Jana Bouskova.

Furthermore, Megan has participated in four summer master classes of Manja Smits and Masumi Nagasawa in 2018 to 2021 (Harp Summer Masterclass La Roche sur Foron).

Orchestras

Megan has been playing in the Youth Symphony Orchestra 'De Vuurvogel' (Zwolle) conducted by Albert Dam since 2018. This youth symphony orchestra performs several times a year offering a varied program of classical music interspersed with film music. In 2023, Megan soloed with this orchestra.

In addition, in 2022 & 2023 Megan participated in a few concerts by the Groninger Student Music Company Bragi conducted by Alexander de Blaeij. At these concerts she has played in Shostakovich Symphony No.5, Mahler's Fifth Symphony - Adagietto, Verdi - Overture "La forza del destino" and Tchaikovsky - Valse des Fleurs, among others.

Both in 2023 and 2024, Megan has been playing in the East Netherlands Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jeppe Moulijn. In 2023 it was within the graduation project "My New World" by Trienke Dijkstra. This included Copland - Appalachian Spring (orchestral suite) on the program. In 2024 the pieces Debussy - Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune and Wagner - Parsifal were on the program

In the summer of 2023, Megan joined the Jeugdorkest Nederland on their summer tour, conducted by Jurjen Hempel. During this tour there were several concerts in Germany and the Netherlands with Padding - Softly Bouncing and Korngold - Violin Concerto in D, opus 35 on the program. In the summer of 2024 she will join this orcheestra again. 

In 2023 and 2024 Megan also participated in concerts of the East Gelderland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Geluk. This included her playing in Opera Goud. In addition to works by Mascagni, pieces by Strauss were also on the program.

Competitions

In 2019 she participated in several competitions: the Dutch national youth competition for all instruments ‘Prinses Christina Concours’, the national Young Talent Competition in Maassluis for all instruments, the international competition in France ‘Rencontres Internationales de la Harpe en Ile-de-France’ where she won a first prize in the category C2N4. Her performance was rewarded with the rating ‘Mention Très Bien avec Felicitations’. In October 2019 she participated in the International Harp Competition Velenje in Slovenia. In category C she was rewarded with a bronze medal and the Jury award for the best performance of a classical piece.

In January 2020 she participated in the national Rosa Spier Harp Competition in Tilburg where she received the encouragement prize. In September 2020 she was a finalist of the Royal Concertgebouw Competition.

In May 2021 she participated in the Archipel Muziekconcours where she reached the semi-finals.

Due to COVID-19 Megan participated in several International online competitions. In the London Young Musician competition 2020-2021 she received the third prize in the category ‘Young artist’. In the Medici International Music Competition and in the IMKA Internet Music Competition she received the first prize. In the Kings Peak International Music Competition and in the Music and Stars Awards her performance was rewarded with the second place.

In the international competition Vienna Classical Music Academy she was invited to the finals based on her online application. The finals took place in Vienna in September 2021. Her performance was awarded with the first prize in the category under 18 years old.

After participating in the International Youth Music Competition she was invited to participate in the Artist of the Year – competition. Here she received the first prize and was an absolute winner in the category Harp – senior (14-18 years).

At the London Classical Music Competition, Megan was awarded first prize in early 2022. Her participation in the national Princess Christina Competition (East Region) resulted in an encouragement prize in early 2022. In April 2022, she won the VAYA International Music Festival Award category harp- 16 Years & Under.

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

Concerts

In addition to participating in competitions and playing with others, Megan also enjoys giving performances. She gives home concerts, for example during the festival “Muziek bij de Buren” and in nursing homes. She has also provided intermezzos at concerts of various choirs on several occasions.

In 2021 Megan performed together with two other finalists of the Royal Concertgebouw Competition in the small hall of the Concertgebouw during a lunch concert.

In 2022 Megan had the opportunity to provide an intermezzo together with the Zwolle city poet Sarah Lucassen in the Zwolle Theatres during the "Stadsdialoog". Later in the year she made a solo-recital at "Kopje Cultuur" in Steenwijk and the Christmasmeeting of Vrouwen van Nu, among others.

In 2023, Megan made a number of solo performances at various occasions.

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.