Mark Haanstra is a versatile bass player based in the Netherlands. He started playing classical piano at an early age but switched to bass in his teens after hearing the music of James Brown. Soon after he started his studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where he graduated in 1997. His recognizable sound, groove and flexibility make him a much sought after musician by artists, ensembles and orchestras in many genres. Mark won several prizes, including the Dutch Jazz Competition with the Nemesis Quartet (1994), Geel (1998) and Agog (2002). Last 10 years Mark recorded and played in over 30 countries with artists such as Yuri Honing, Henry Hey, Jeff Taylor, Simon Phillips, Terry Bozzio, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Theo Loevendie, Marcel Veenendaal, Ellen ten Damme, Lois Lane and many others. Mark played with major classical ensembles and orchestras including Concertgebouw Orkest, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Asko Schoenberrg. Besides this he is a soloist in Steve Mackey’s Grammy Award-winning work Dreamhouse, which has been performed and recorded by several renowned orchestras such as the BBC and New York Philharmonic. Currently one of his main projects is his duo with viola player Oene van Geel: Their album ‘Shapes of Time’ got released in March 2018 and received rave reviews from the press. In 2019/20 Mark was the bass player for David Bowie’s musical Lazarus. Mark teaches bass and ensemble at the Prince Claus Conservatoire and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague