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Ilse van de Kasteelen studied bassoon and solo voice at the conservatories of Hilversum and Amsterdam. In 1983, she was asked by Taller Amsterdam to compose several parts for their production The Desert. Many productions followed, culminating in her chamber operas Los Heraldos and De Steek van een Scorpioen, both commissions from the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.
After many music theatre productions and her association with Taller Amsterdam, recent years have seen the rise of concert pieces: choral works, a solo for mezzo-soprano, the Cyclus Serenade de Retour for bass-baritone and piano, and the chamber opera 'The Meeting' (Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart) for two sopranos, wind instruments, percussion, and strings. For this, she was subsequently honored by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst, and recently a solo for harp, *Hunab K'U*, commissioned by Godelieve Schrama and the Fonds Podiumkunsten.
She was advised on composing by, among others, Ton de Leeuw and Elgar Howarth, and in the field of instrumentation by Lucas Vis, Harry Sparnaay, Leo van Oostrom, and Godelieve Schrama.