I was born into a musical family. My father was a good singer, cellist and pianist and spoke both English and French alongside his native Dutch. My mother is a published writer who has also worked in radio as well writing texts for theatre. She also plays the piano well, accompanying singers and performing at an amateur level. My grandmother always sang so I originally got it from her I think as apparently I could sing before I starting talking. I received piano tuition from the age of 7 from Ina Overkamp who was pianist with the internationally renowned Dutch Piano Quartet. During my teenage years I sang the lead role in various musicals both in Holland, France, Germany and the United States. After high school I studied French at the University of Amsterdam before deciding that my heart lay in music and singing in particular. This was when I first started receiving vocal tuition and at that time I also sang with the Concertgebouw Choir for several years. I continued my musical studies at the Conservatoria in Amsterdam and Rotterdam where I trained as a classical singer, also receiving further piano tuition and it was even suggested that I might consider majoring in piano. After Conservatorium I received further tuition from various teachers, among whom the Dutch soprano Miranda van Kralingen, and I also attended masterclasses with the legendary Dutch pedagogue Margreet Honig. In recent years I participated in various EVTS (=Estill Voice Training System) workshops and Lax Vox workshops with Alberto ter Doest and Marja Reijnders of the Universal Voice Institute, continuing my EVTS studies with the highly skilled Anja Blom. 

I also worked for several years with a Neapolitan-American guitarist on a repertoire of English, French, American, Italian, Neapolitan, Spanish and black Brazilian folksongs, all sung in the original language. We performed nationally and internationally. I also sing classical lieder, musical songs (American songbook) including Kurt Weill. Alongside my teaching and musical interests I’ve always maintained my love of languages, speaking English and French fluently alongside Italian and some German. I've also been teaching English as a foreign language and doing some translation work. Spirituality (for want of a better word) has become an increasingly important part of my life and I have been practising Kriya-yoga and meditation for 30 years.