Anneleen Lenaerts

Photo of Anneleen Lenaerts

International Visiting Professor of Harp

Belgian harpist Anneleen Lenaerts is one of the leading soloists of her instrument. In December 2010 she was appointed Principal Harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic. As a soloist Anneleen has performed with the Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio, the Mozarteum Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, the Polish National Radio Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic, and the National Orchestra of Belgium amongst others. Anneleen Lenaerts has made her solo debut at venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall New York, Berliner Philharmonie, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Bozar in Brussels and in festivals such as Rheingau Musik Festival, Dresden Musikfestspiele, Lockenhaus festival, Moritzburg Festival and Aspen Music Festival. Solo appearances have been recorded by various stations including BBC 3, Radio France Musique and Deutschlandfunk.

In the 2022/2023 season she can be heard with the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Zuger Sonfonietta, the Olten Philharmonic Izmir and at the Musikverein Wien, the Festival Internacional de Musica Sacra de Bogotá, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg and the Wigmore Hall London . Further highlights of the season are concerts with mandolin player Avi Avital, with Emmanuel Pahud, solo flutist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, cellist Julia Hagen and sopranist Christiane Karg.

Under her exclusive contract with Warner Classics Anneleen Lenaerts regularly records solo albums. In November 2021, her CD “Vienna Stories” was released with members of the Vienna Philharmonic, a tribute to her musical home of Vienna, where the worlds of operas and symphonies merge with everyday life. Her CD “Nino Rota. Works for Harp” with Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Adrien Perruchon was awarded the Opus Klassik 2019. Previously she had published works by Schumann and Schubert with the clarinettist Dionysis Grammenos and set her own accents with her solo album “Harp Concertos” by not only recording the well-known Harp Concerto by Glière and her own version of the famous “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo, but also the lesser-known harp concerto by her compatriot Joseph Jongen, which is very close to her heart. Other recordings include HarpOboe (2007), Harp Concertos (Egan Records 2008) and Chopin & Liszt (Aliud Records 2011).

From an early age Anneleen started winning an impressive amount of prizes at international harp competitions: 23 prizes between 1997 and 2009. The “Grand Prix International Lily Laskine, where she won the first prize in 2005 and the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, where she was both a prizewinner and winner of the Audience Prize, are particularly outstanding. Anneleen Lenaerts started playing harp with Lieve Robbroeckx. She continued her studies at the Conservatories of Brussels and Paris in 2008 and gained her Harp Master degree with highest distinction. She completed through the “Cours de perfectionnement” at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Isabelle Perrin. Besides harp Anneleen studied harmony, counterpoint and fugue at the Brussels Conservatory.

Anneleen teaches at the University of Maastricht (NL) and is a Faculty Member of the Aspen Music Festival (USA).