Claire van Kampen, theater director and the wife of Mark Rylance, was 71 when she died on his birthday on Saturday, Jan. 18, Rylance confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE.

Claire van Kampen, a theater director, composer and wife of actor Mark Rylance, died Saturday morning. She was 71. Van Kampen died in Kassel, Germany, “surrounded by her family” following a battle with cancer, Rylance and her daughter Juliet shared in a statement. Saturday was also her husband’s 65th birthday.

British theatre director and composer Claire van Kampen has died aged 71, her husband actor Sir Mark Rylance has confirmed. Van Kampen, who was the first female musical director at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre,

Claire van Kampen, a composer of music for plays and television dramas, as well as a director, writer and frequent collaborator of her Oscar-winning husband Mark Rylance, died Saturday morning at age 71,

Claire Louise van Kampen, Lady Rylance, has died this morning, Saturday the 18th of January at 11:47, in the ancient town of Kassel, Germany, surrounded by her family. Learn more about her life and legacy.