Kaat Vanhaverbeke
Kaat Vanhaverbeke (she/her) is both a performing accordionist and composer in between classical contemporary music and sound art. She invites a wide audience with her engaging and heartfelt way of performing.
In 2020, she earned her Bachelor of Music from LUCA School of Arts in Leuven (BE). She then pursued further studies in music with An Raskin at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague (NL) to enrich her musicianship. She successfully obtained her Master’s degree in 2023. Between September 2023 and June 2024 Kaat followed a composition course at the same institute. Mainly self-taught, Kaat started composing at age 14, performing her works for solo accordion. Over the years, she received tutoring from Eddy Flecijn, Patrick van Deurzen, Trevor Grahl, Mayke Nas and Jan van de Putte.
With Tectonic Transformations for marimba and organ, she received the Amsterdam Marimba Weekend Composition Award in March 2024. “My fascination for landscapes, places and natural phenomena drives me to create sound ‘environments’ where it’s either safe, harsh, pleasant, colourful, busy, calm… Tectonic Transformations reflects this fascination, and aims to transport listeners to a place of wonder and imagination.”
Kaat is involved in several ensembles, including her duo Vloed with violinist Marjolein Spruit and the NorthSouth Duo with South African saxophone player Josie McClure, the hybrid Spaceship Ensemble, and the Belgian SP!TSBERGEN Ensemble, with whom she recorded the well-received album Ørnen 1897, heard in radio programs worldwide, including BBC3 (UK), Klara (BE) and Eastside FM (AU). During 2023, she worked as an artistic researcher in Studio LOOS in The Hague, creating new music for an innovative, extra-dimensional way of accordion playing. Kaat has worked with theatre groups such as Lichtbende (NL), Kunstgreep (NL), and Max Last (BE). She has performed in many important venues and festivals in the Netherlands and abroad, such as Korzo The Hague, Klarafestival Brussels, Opera Forward Festival, Orgelpark Amsterdam, STUK Leuven, Festival Dag in de Branding, Gaudeamusfestival Utrecht and FIMFA Lisbon.
She was selected as one of 4 promising Belgian sound artists to perform at the Showcase Emerging Sound 2024 in STUK Leuven with her project ‘3D accordion XL’. In the season of 2025-2026, Kaat is starring in the youth opera ‘Atman’, a production of De Nationale Opera, Opera Zuid and De Nederlandse Reisopera.
