Anneleen Lenaerts

Belgian harpist Anneleen Lenaerts is one of the leading soloists of her instrument. In December 2010 she was appointed Principal Harpist of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, and she became a member of the Vienna Philharmonic in 2014.

As a soloist Anneleen has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Polish National Radio Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic and the National Orchestra of Belgium, amongst others.

Anneleen has appeared in recitals at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg and Bozar in Brussels, and at the Rheingau, Dresden, Lockenhaus, Moritzburg and Aspen Music Festivals, among others. Her solo appearances have been recorded by various stations including BBC 3, Radio France Musique and Deutschlandfunk.

From an early age Anneleen started winning an impressive number of prizes at international harp competitions: 23 prizes between 1997 and 2009. These include 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 prize-winner and winner of the Audience Prize. In 2011 Aliud Records released her solo album of harp transcriptions of popular piano pieces by Chopin and Liszt. That was followed by two highly successful albums for Warner Classics – harp concertos by Glière, Rodrigo and Jongen with the Brussels Philharmonic, and works by Schumann and Schubert with clarinettist Dionysis Grammenos – which led to an exclusive recording contract with the label. Her 2019 recording of works for harp by Nino Rota, with Emmanuel Pahud and the Brussels Philharmonic under the baton of Adrien Perruchon, won an Opus Klassik award. That same year she was also honoured by the Government of Flanders for her outstanding contribution to Flemish society.

Anneleen started playing the harp with Lieve Robbroeckx. She continued her studies at the Conservatories of Brussels and Paris in 2008 and gained her Master’s degree in Harp with highest distinction. She completed the Cours de perfectionnement at the École Normale de Musique in Paris with Isabelle Perrin. Anneleen teaches at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, and is a Faculty Member of the Aspen Music Festival in the USA.