When this is then combined with a superior recorder virtuoso of the likes of Carin van Heerden it is utter bliss[…] Hearing the lightness and litheness of her playing and that of her ensemble, presenting this mixture of French and Italian elements, the listener can’t but bow down in reverence.
Klassik Heute, Christof Jetzschke
Carin van Heerden was born in Cape Town (South Africa). She studied in Cologne, Germany and in Amsterdam, Netherlands, recorder with Günther Höller and Walter van Hauwe and baroque oboe with Helmut Hucke. She was the winner of international music competitions, among them the renowned international ARD competition in Munich (1988).
Carin van Heerden is co-founder of the Austrian L’Orfeo Barockorchester, directed by Michi Gaigg, and performs with this orchestra (also as soloist) in Europe and South Africa. More than 40 discs have been released by the orchestra. As a fervent chamber musician, she directs the L’Orfeo Wind Ensemble and is also a member of the recorder consort Element of Prime with which she toured South-Africa in February 2024.
As soloist and chamber musician she recorded for cpo, Cavalli Records and Sony.
She was professor for recorder at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Cologne Musikhochschule. She taught the baroque oboe and recorder (1993 to 2023) and headed the Institute for Early Music and Performance Practice (2010 to 2019) at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz.
She is the artistic director of the concert series “Alte Musik – neu gelesen” in Linz, Austria, and was the German translator of Bruce Haynes’ monumental work “The eloquent Oboe”. She is often invited as member of the jury at international competitions for Early Music and for master classes internationally.