Maite van der Marel was born and raised in Utrecht, The Netherlands in 1986.

During her bachelor of Music Education at the Codarts Conservatory of Rotterdam, Maite was already curious to explore new approaches to music education while she further developed her musical skills on piano. She graduated in 2010 and continued to follow her ambitions in the Master of Music with entrepreneurship & jazz piano, at the conservatory of Utrecht. As a result, she wrote a thesis on creative and collaborative music-making, aiming to further expand this way of working in the Netherlands and innovate the educational field. 

She gradually developed her own characteristic and energetic leadership style, and executed many creative music projects, for instance in TivoliVredenburg where she led many composing projects with teenagers for about 8 years.

From 2015-2018 Maite was artistic coördinator of the MuziekRoute in a marginalised neighbourhood in Utrecht (Overvecht), executing a music programme on 11 primary schools. She supervised the team, set up creative ensembles for kids, conducted large-scale concerts (with 250+ children) and developed a teacher trainer program within the schools.

From 2017-2021, Maite continued her path as trainer and artistic director at Sounds of Change, using music in (post) conflicted areas in the Middle East. In addition to developing strategy and vision, she led training programs in refugee camps and marginalised areas in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine (West Bank), as well as in the Netherlands.

Following her curiosity, Maite immersed herself in courses in the field of communication, psychology and her own leadership development: Transactional Analysis, Leadership and Transference (Phoenix), Deep Democracy (level 1 and 2 at Hummus) and Breathwork coaching (with Kasper van der Meulen).

Her fascinations and years of experience and pioneering, are now naturally coming together in various projects worldwide. It represents her active involvement in music projects in local communities in both the Netherlands and Latin America. She guides and supports local artists who want to improve their artistic leadership, social engagement and personal development.

In essence Maite searches for new meaning and relevance of music and arts in today’s changing society. Besides collaborating with several conservatories to inspire young musicians, she is searching for ways to connect the currently socially engaged pioneers worldwide to create synergy amongst them.

Characteristics of her leadership style are her questioning, playful, empathetic, humorous and explorative approach. She always looks for an alignment of the individual and the group, and searches for profound meaning and urgency through (artistic) reflection.

As a composer and singer-songwriter herself, she goes by the name Maite Rosa. Performing with piano, synths, vocals and electronic beats, she seduces you with her sounds, plays with your expectations and draws you into her sound world from surprising twists and turns. Her compositions are dynamic and layered, her improvisations expressive and through her soft and quirky voice, she allows the audience to get very close to her. Soon her recordings can be found online.

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