Heather Pinkham is a pianist, composer, and musicologist originally from California and 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 degree 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, Nicholas Mathew, and Jacqueline Chew, among others. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, Heather studied for two years privately with prominent Bay Area pianist, Diane Hidy.
Heather plays as a soloist in orchestras, most recently with the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she performed her own piano concerto. In addition, she also performs as guest ensemble pianist and with a variety of ensembles, most recently touring with the corona composition from Tim Kliphuis, The Five Elements. Previously, she also played 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 performed, among other contemporary repertoire, her own music. Heather has composed for soloists Ralph van Raat, Vincent van Amsterdam, Niek Baar, Maya Fridman, and Tom Sanderman, among others. She has also composed pieces for the Merced Symphony Orchestra in California, the Euregio Jeugdorkest, November Music Festival, the Nationale Opera Studio, and the Opera Forward Festival (2020) in Amsterdam. In May 2020, Heather initiated the project Music for Empty Spaces, in which 12 composers (including herself) wrote 12 pieces for 12 solo musicians, all reflecting on the corona crisis. The event was live-streamed by NPO Radio 4 from an empty Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam. Last year, the second version of Music for Empty Spaces took place, this time with the afterlife as the central theme.