
Deanne attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she was a student of Marilyn Costello and Judy Loman. She completed her M.Mus. as a student of Sarah Bullen at Roosevelt University in Chicago. She has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe and her native South Africa as a soloist and chamber musician. Deanne has performed at two World Harp Congresses and has made recordings of chamber music and solo repertoire. Deanne has been actively involved in performing music of contemporary composers and has given premieres of several new works for harp, both in concerts and on recordings. As harpist with the Curtis Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago she performed with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Marin Alsop and Yuri Temirkanov. She was the principal harpist of the New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami under Michael Tilson Thomas.
Deanne is an Associate Professor of geology at Acadia University and has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from Carleton University. Her research interests include structural geology, geochronology, and metamorphic petrology in relation to structural and tectonic problems in the Appalachians, Northern Quebec, and Labrador.