Remy van Kesteren

When Remy van Kesteren was five years old, he heard the sound of a strange, enchanting instrument played in a garden. Lured in by the pull of a harp, his life changed forever. 20 years later, Remy went on to be called a “brilliant harpist” by The New York Times and built an international, award-winning career. He’s played across concert halls around the world, even winning in 2013 the largest international harp competition in the world. However, at the age of 25, something felt unsettled for him, or at least not quite right. The lure of the harp pulled him in a new direction once more.

After winning the Dutch Music Prize in 2016 with his cross-genre album Tomorrow Eyes, he went from playing with world-renowned orchestras to performing in clubs and pop festivals, both solo and with his band, Analogue Robot Orchestra. He wanted to find and then stretch the limits of his instrument. His curiosity in delving into a harp’s capabilities lead him to be the only person in the world with a harp specially designed and manufactured (partly by himself) with 49 strings: the Salvi Réus, funded by the National Musical Instrument Fund. In addition, together with instrument builder Joris Beets, he developed a new, much more accessible and affordable harp, the Harp-E, made especially for children.

Whether collaborating in the framework of dance (Het Nationale Ballet in 2014 & 2017), film (Oscar-winning director Michael Dudok De Wit), or across a blend of genres with singer-songwriters, producers, and DJ’s, Remy continues to find fresh and creative ways of pushing the boundaries of his harp-playing skills. His own music has garnered more than 12 million streams on Spotify alone across 182 different countries. Meanwhile, Remy continues to navigate new means of expanding interest in the harp across the wider population. Whether co-creating a DIY “IKEA” harp that allows for easy assembly or sitting as artistic director of the Dutch Harp Festival, he is constantly finding unique ways to bring the harp to new audiences, and new audiences to the harp.