Bio Maria Palatine

Maria Palatine is a cosmopolitan harpist, vocalist and composer from Brussels. She has her roots in Palatinate, where the French and German cultures have always been meeting and where a liberal mindset developed at an early stage. In this regard, her name reflects her programme. With her sharply and accurately worded song texts, she is also in the singer/ songwriter tradition of the seventies and eighties. A sound classical education enables her to draw inspiration from quite different musical traditions and to build bridges between genres.

Music has been playing a key role in her life at an early stage, the harp was “just there”, playing and singing was common in the family. Consequently, she focused on music already at school, graduated from high school in her home town of Kaiserslautern, and then studied concert harp in Mannheim.

After graduation, Maria soon turned to other musical styles and focused on singing with harp accompaniment, founded her own band and “changed tune” with her harp. She educated herself further in the field of jazz music, although a harp is not an instrument affine to jazz, as every chromatic alteration needs action at the seven pedals.

The range of her compositions encompasses a rich mixture in styles, always with the word, the text as a source of inspiration in its centre. Her works include an opera, compositions for chorus, as well as songs for eight CDs recorded in cooperation with several jazz quartets or string ensembles. Besides, she wrote film music.

On her tours, Maria Palatine visited Europe, Brazil, the United States, Siberia, Georgia, and Canada. In multimedia projects she collaborated with artists like Markus Lüpertz, Karl Lagerfeld, and Bernard Tirtiaux.

Since 2005 she lives in Brussels and has founded her own large harp school (Harp Center Brussels). Her stylistic flexibility have made her a very popular tutor. Each year she gives courses at the international summer academy in Belgium, as well as in Germany, Switzerland, and Canada.

Awards: 2005 Hans Seidel Foundation and Bavarian Radio Prize for young song poets - 2017 Brukmer Golden Artistic Award Brussels: Female artists of the year