Lavinia Meijer

Harpist Lavinia Meijer is an exclusive Sony Classical International Artist who has performed in some of the leading concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall New York, Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Musikverein Vienna, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Bronfman Auditorium Tel Aviv and Seoul Arts Center.

Lavinia is passionate about broadening the possibilities of the harp. She experiments with electronic music, theatrical music, jazz and avant garde work by composers like Ludwig Ellis-Leone, Garrett Byrnes, Paul Patterson, Carlos Michans and Konstantia Gourzi, and has collaborated with artists such as Iggy Pop, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Sufjan Stevens and Ludovico Einaudi. She is one of few classical artists to have had an impact on European rock album charts. She was awarded two platinum albums (for her Channel Classics recording of Metamorphosis / The Hours and Passaggio, Einaudi by Lavinia).

Her many recordings feature music as varied as Handel, Bach, Scarlatti, Glass, Sakamoto, Takemitsu, Dessner, Muhly, Piazzola, Ravel, Debussy and her own compositions. Lavinia appears as a featured artist on Brittany Howard’s 2020 Grammy-nominated solo album Jamie, and on the 2020 Sony Classical release Peaceful Choir, in collaboration with World Choir for Peace. Her solo album Are You Still Somewhere? which also features her own compositions was released in April 2022 and received an Edison. In January 2024 her album Winter was released.

Recent season highlights include a performance of Kaija Saariaho’s harp concerto Trans at the Concertgebouw with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Netherlands and Ludovic Morlot, the premiere of Shadowy Figure, a new work by San Fermin’s Ellis Ludwig-Leone with the Het Gelders Orkest in Arnhem, performances with Philip Glass in America and Europe, and tours in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2018 she had the honor of being invited to perform at the PyeongChang Winter Music Festival to celebrate the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. She returned for their 2020 winter festival in a program with American cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.

In April 2021, Lavinia gave the world premiere of a new harp concerto by Jaap Nico Hamburger with the Residentie Orkest in The Hague. The piece was commissioned by the Government of the Netherlands and the United Nations to mark the 75th anniversary of the International Court of Justice.

Born in South Korea, Lavinia Meijer was adopted at the age of two and subsequently raised in the Netherlands. She studied at the conservatories of Utrecht, where she was admitted to the conservatory at the age of 11, and Amsterdam, where she graduated with the highest honors.

Lavinia is an Ambassador for Save a Child’s Heart and the Dutch federation of the UN.