The journey begins

as the harmonies build up a complex feeling.

A beautiful breeze sings through the harsh reality of life.

The rhythm follows your heartbeat. Where are you?

Desire grows to take a different path.

A new melody arouses.

Nobody thought the music could end up here.

An oasis with lush green and a strong blossoming tree.

What do you see?

I see raindrops glistening on blades of grass. In it there is a whole world of diamantes and pearls.

I feel teardrops glistening on my cheeks. In it there might be a whole world of diamantes and pearls too.

Reality meets eternity.

A rhythm returns. It reminds us of the roads we have travelled before.

But it sounds different this time.

 

While her music is introspective and contemplative, Hanna Marieke’s first album was received as ‘surprisingly strong and adventurous’ (Nederlands Dagblad). As a pianist, composer, singer and storyteller, Hanna takes the audiences on a journey of transformation and poetic insights, hidden in metaphors of nature and breath-taking encounters.

 

Her mission is to open people’s eyes towards a new perspective so that they may find hope and see beauty in the midst of the simple mundane and the weary chaos. Music speaks the language of the heart where words speak the language of the mind. Together they invite the audience on a wholesome adventure. Hanna tells stories, sketching real-life situations and paints the environment, thoughts and feelings with modern jazz compositions. The audience can be lifted above their worries, struggles and hardship and be dragged into an oasis of beautiful art. In her writing process, Hanna spends all the time she needs to find the right colors on the piano, continuously playing with innovative details and creative textures that mesmerize her in the first place.

 

"Contemplative music, authentic and modern." (Hans Mantel, Sublime FM) Inspired by Justin Kauflin, Becca Stevens, Aaron Parks, Mathias Eick, Chopin, Ravel and Scriabin, Hanna writes melodic jazz with a touch of classical and gospel music. She has a “sensitive musicality” (Luis Rabello) and “her stories are dripping with wisdom” (Raphael Rodan). Since the summer of 2023, she lives with her husband in a castle-like building together with a community of young people. It’s in the middle of her world of inspiration: the forest. Outside of the business of the city and the hurry of society she is soaked into silence and inspiring encounters that continues to flow into her music. She is often found behind the grand piano, crafting something new while staring into the wilderness of the flowers and herbs in the garden.

 

Currently, she is working on a new album and storytelling jazz concert that she hopes to release at the end of her Master Studies in 2024. Right now she is studying jazz vocals and piano at Codarts in Rotterdam and doing artistic research on storytelling combined with and through jazz. In the last couple of years she went through a lot of life events and traveled to vast mountains and wild rivers. As a passionate feeler, she has been writing about grief, loss, disappointments and life-changing discoveries.

 

Hanna Marieke was born in the vibrant Amsterdam. Her parents took her to church, where she developed into a reflective woman and learned to ask deep questions. At age nine, she took her first classical piano lesson with Elizabeth de Smaele. With every piece, they drew landscapes and made up stories and characters so the music would have a voice. Soon, Hanna's creative hands and mind wanted to improvise and compose herself. In her teenage years, she became interested in jazz because of the famous singer Norah Jones. At the age of sixteen she enjoyed two years of jazz piano lessons with Mark van der Feen, discovering a whole new world of freedom. Upon turning seventeen, she was accepted at the conservatory in Utrecht to study Jazz & Pop piano with Bert van den Brink and Rembrandt Frerichs. She finished her Bachelor studies in 2018 where she presented her own music for the first time.

 

In 2021 she released her debut album, Rhythms Of Grace under the record label OAP records. With her project she has toured in living rooms and has played on festivals like North Sea Jazz Festival, Red Light Jazz Festival and Zeeland Jazz Festival. Besides her own music, Hanna has played and performed with MUDDY GREASE, the HKU Bigband, Thirza Athalja, Geonne Hartman, the Utrecht's Jazz Orchestra and with the Big Band Utrecht (BBU).

 

In the future, Hanna hopes to inspire and impact people those who want to be touched drawn into a world of imagination, wonder and beauty. Every couple of years she hopes to release a new album and go on theatre tours with new stories and music.