Kirsten Ecke

Kirsten Ecke, harp, lives with her family in Dreisamtal and teaches the harp performance class at the Freiburg Conservatory of Music as an honorary professor. In 2008 she was a visiting professor at the Munich Hochschule für Musik und Theater.

She felt drawn to the harp from the first time she encountered the instrument as a child. To this day, she is fascinated by the closeness to its sound, its timbres and expressive possibilities. Her mission is to show her listeners that the harp can do more than its cliché of being a gentle instrument of angels and a decorative salon accessory might suggest. The harp can be wild, serious,
gentle, loud, tender, spirited, and much more, but it is, first and foremost, an instrument that should truly be taken seriously.

After studying with Helga Storck at the University of Music in Munich, she was initially principal harpist with the South Thuringian State Theater in Meiningen, then with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

Kirsten Ecke is an avid performer of chamber music. She co-founded and serves as artistic advisor of the "Valser Musiksommer" Chamber Music Festival in Vals, Graubünden, Switzerland and the concert series "LUMIK – Literature and Music in Kirchzarten" in Germany.

In addition to her passion for music, she is also a state-licensed alternative practitioner of psychotherapy, and a coach and trainer with a focus on hypnotherapy and PEP © (process and embodiment-focused psychology). She also coaches and gives seminars and courses on performance, stress management and resilience promotion.

Her motto: "Mobilize potential, release energy and enable yourself to access joy and harmony. That is my passion as a musician and teacher."

Photo: Markus Donner