Biography
Heather Pinkham is a pianist, composer, and musicologist originally from California and currently residing in the Netherlands. She holds a Master of Music in Composition from Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Tilburg (where she studied with Anthony Fiumara), a Master of Arts in Cognitive Musicology from the University of Amsterdam, and a Bachelor of Arts double major in Music (piano performance and musicology) and Italian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. During this time, she studied with Richard Taruskin and Nicholas Mathew, among others. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, Heather studied privately for two years with prominent Bay Area pianist Diane Hidy.
Heather currently plays piano in the contemporary music trio No Piece of Wood, with Sjors van der Mark on electric guitar and Hanna van Rooijen, soprano. With this trio, she performs a wide range of contemporary repertoire, including her own compositions. In addition to composing for her own ensemble, Heather has written works for soloists including Ralph van Raat, Vincent van Amsterdam, Niek Baar, Maya Fridman, and Tom Sanderman. She has also composed for the Merced Symphony Orchestra (California), the Euregio Jeugdorkest, November Music Festival, Festival Dag in de Branding, the National Opera Studio, and the Opera Forward Festival.
In May 2020, Heather initiated the project Music for Empty Spaces, in which twelve composers (including herself) wrote twelve pieces for twelve solo musicians, reflecting on the corona crisis. The event was live-streamed by NPO Radio 4 from an empty Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam.
While at UC Berkeley, Heather studied piano with Jacqueline Chew (UC Berkeley) and Debora Petrina (L’Università degli Studi di Padova). She also spent a year in a full-immersion Italian language study abroad program at L’Università degli Studi di Padova in Padua, Italy. Heather has participated in masterclasses with prominent fortepianists Malcolm Bilson, Bart van Oort, and Geoffrey Govier, as well as with leading modern piano accompanist Malcolm Martineau.
In 2014, she participated in a summer chamber music workshop at La Schola Cantorum in Paris, where she took part in masterclasses with Henri Gronnier, Simone Dinnerstein, and Roy Howat.
Heather graduated with her Master’s degree in Cognitive Musicology from the University of Amsterdam in September 2015. Her thesis consisted of a self-designed study using the Implication–Realization Model (developed by Eugene Narmour) to evaluate differences in the production and perception of melodies and melodic expectancy between musicology and conservatory students in the Netherlands.
Before moving to the Netherlands, Heather performed with several choirs and ensembles in the San Francisco Bay Area. Notably, she was rehearsal pianist and orchestral pianist/organist for the Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra, with whom she toured Eastern Europe in 2013. During this time, she also worked as a session musician at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Heather has previously toured with various choirs to Los Angeles and New York; during one of these tours, she had the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall.
