Claire van Kampen originally trained at the Royal College of Music in London and studied music theory with Dr. Ruth Gipps, and piano with Peter Element.

In a career spanning nearly 50 years, Claire had an international career as a composer & performer, writing and playing for theatre, radio, television and film soundtracks and the concert hall.

Her theatre career began with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986, and then the Royal National Theatre in 1987, becoming the first female to be musical director with both companies.

From the opening of the Globe, she served as Founding Director of Music from 1996-2006, and as Artistic Associate alongside her husband and creative collaborator, Sir Mark Rylance (Founding Artistic Director). She remained at the Globe as Creative Associate for Early Music, and Senior Research Fellow. She was music consultant and resident composer from 2007-2015. She continued to compose, write, and direct at the Globe, and was also a member of the Creative Council.

For The Globe she composed music for 48 productions over 34 years, most recently for Kathryn Hunter’s King Lear in 2022.

She was the Tudor music advisor & arranger for both BBC’s Wolf Hall TV series.

In the U.S. Claire created original scores for Broadway productions of True West (2000), Boeing-Boeing (2008) and La Bete (2010) as well as the US transfer of The Globe’s Twelfth Night and Richard III (2013/14).

Whilst most known for composing, Claire was a polymath: composer, historian, writer, and director.

For The Globe she wrote the multi-award winning Farinelli and The King (2017/18) which was nominated for 6 Olivier and 5 Tony Awards including Best Play.

In 2018, Claire made her debut as Director with Othello at the Globe, with André Holland in the title role and Mark Rylance as Iago.

As a composer, Claire’s ballet ‘Uncaged’- with choreographer Antonia Franceschi – premiered with the New York Theatre Ballet Company in February 2020, continuing a very fruitful relationship with that company after Antonia and Claire’s debut piece ‘She Holds Out Her Hand’ (2018). Further collaboration with Antonia followed with then Riccardo’s Broschi’s 1730 opera Idaspe for Pittsburgh’s Quantum theater. In their 23/24 season, Clare directed Les Fetes de Thalie for Opera Lafayette in New York and Washington.

In 2024, Claire composed the music for a new production of Pericles for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Claire was Creative Associate of the Old Vic theatre, London.

Claire was awarded The Vero Nihil Verius award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts, (Concordia University, Portland, Oregon U.S.A.) and the 2007 Sam Wanamaker Award.

Claire was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Brunel University in 2019.