Ernestine Stoop was born in Utrecht and began studying harp, at the age of eleven, with Titia Tieman-van der Laars. She earned her solo diploma in 1980, studying with Edward Witsenburg at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She then studied for two years with the legendary harpist Pierre Jamet, the authority on the works of Claude Debussy; he worked with the composer himself on the pieces written for harp. Ernestine Stoop studied chamber music in Salzburg with the violinist Sandor Végh.
After playing for 11 years with the Radio Filharmonic Orchestra, she is now dedicating herself fully to playing as a solist, chamber music and teaching. She is a member of the Nieuw Ensemble, Atlas Ensemble and Asko|Schönberg.
She is harp-professor at the Royal College of Music in the Hague and at the Fontys High School of Music in Tilburg.