Megan van Uffelen (2005) was born in Zwolle (The Netherlands) and started to play
the lever harp at age 7. Her teachers were Klarissa Zantinge and Lidewei Spruit.
Megan started the pedal harp at age 13 in 2018 and has been studying with Manja
Smits since then. In September 2019 she was accepted in the Young Talent Class at
the ArtEZ Conservatoire in Zwolle where she continues to study with Manja Smits.
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 the only possibility for participating in international competition was
online. Megan participated in London Young Musician competition 2020-2021 in
which 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.
Megan loves to play chamber music and is a member of Youth Orchestra ‘De
Vuurvogel’. This Youth Orchestra performs multiple times a year.
She attended masterclasses with Lavinia Meijer, Remy van Kesteren, Chantal
Mathieu and Pierre-Michel Vigneau and participated in four summer masterclasses of
Manja Smits and Masumi Nagasawa in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 (Harp Summer
Masterclass La Roche sur Foron). Megan is invited to attend a masterclass at the
World Harp Congress in Cardiff, which will take place in July 2022.