Born in Varna, Bulgaria, LUDMIL Angelov graduated at the Pancho Vladigerov State Music Academy in Sofia. He won prizes and diplomas at international competitions, including the Senigallia (Italy, 1976), Fryderyk Chopin (Poland, 1985), Palm Beach International Competition (USA, 1990), Piano Masters (Monte Carlo, 1994) and World Piano Masters Tour (France, 1997).    

Ludmil Angelov has performed at major concert halls, such as the Philharmonie in Berlin, Musikverein and Staatsoper in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Pleyel and Gaveau in Paris, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Lincoln Centre in New York, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Herkulessaal in Munich, KKL in Lucerne, Zürich Opera, Salle Garnier in Monte-Carlo, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Brucknerhaus in Linz, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Auditori in Barcelona, Palau de la Música in Valencia, Athenaeum in Bucharest, the concert halls of the Moscow and Milan Conservatories, the National Philharmonic Hall and Polish National Opera in Warsaw, KBS Hall in Seoul amongst many others.  

The music of Chopin has been a constant of his career. He has performed the complete solo-piano works by Chopin in a cycle of twelve recitals. He has also participated in some of the most significant Chopin festivals in Europe, including “Chopin and his Europe” Festival in Warsaw. In 1999 he presented, in a cycle of recitals, the complete works of Chopin in Madrid and other cities of Spain; ten years later, in the 2009–10 season he again performed the complete Chopin in Spain and Bulgaria. In 2000 his recording of Chopin’s Rondos and Variations was awarded a Grand Prix du Disque Chopin by the NIFC in Warsaw. 

The labels for which Ludmil Angelov has recorded include RCA, Danacord, Gega New, Pentatone, Non Profit Music, Toccata Classics, ARIA Classics, Hyperion, Vela Records,Virginia Records and the label of the National Institute F. Chopin in Warsaw. In June 2015 the pianist recorded with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra the world-premiere recording of the recently discovered early Piano Concerto of Moritz Moszkowski for Hyperion.  

He teaches at New Bulgarian University in Sofia, where he is a Emeritus Professor since 2013. He gives masterclasses all over the world and has served as a Jury member at many International Competitions, including F. Chopin Competition in Warsaw (2010, 2015, 2021 & 2025). In November 2011 he was awarded the Gloria Artis medal by the Polish Ministry of Culture for his contribution to the international promotion of Polish music. In 2022 he was honored with the highest award of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture - Golden Century and in 2023 he was decorated by Felipe VI of Spain as an Officer of the Order of Isabella the Catholic.  

EMANUIL IVANOV attracted international attention after receiving the First prize at the 2019 Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Italy. This achievement was followed by concert engagements in some of the world’s most prestigious halls including Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Herculessaal in Munich.

Emanuil Ivanov was born in 1998 in the town of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria. From an early age he demonstrated a keen interest and love for music. He regards the presence of symphonic music, especially that of Gustav Mahler, as tremendously influential in his musical upbringing during his childhood. He started piano lessons with Galina Daskalova in his hometown around the age of seven. Ivanov later studied with the renowned Bulgarian pianist Atanas Kurtev from 2013 to 2018. In 2024 he graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, having studied there on a full scholarship under the tutelage of Pascal Nemirovski and Anthony Hewitt. In 2025 he completed the Advanced Diploma course at London’s Royal Academy of Music as a recipient of the prestigious Bicentenary scholarship, under the supervision of Joanna MacGregor and Christopher Elton. Following this, he has been named as the first Sulamita Aronovsky Piano Fellow at RAM.

In February 2021, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ivanov performed a solo recital in Milan’s famous Teatro alla Scala. The concert was live-streamed online and is a major highlight in the artist’s career.

In 2022, he received the honorary Silver medal of the Musicians’ Company, London and later in the same year became a recipient of the prestigious Carnwath Piano Scholarship.

Emanuil Ivanov has given critically acclaimed performances and tours in Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, South Africa, the US, the United Kingdom and Poland and has played with leading orchestras in South Africa, the UK, Bulgaria and Italy. Ivanov’s performances have been featured on BBC Radio 3, Italy’s Rai Radio 3 and Japan’s NHK Radio. In 2024, Emanuil also made his debuts on the stages of Wigmore Hall and Konzerthaus Dortmund, and in January 2025, his album of Scarlatti sonatas for the renowned Naxos label was released. In 2025, he also made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall.

He has continually shown affinity towards some of the more rarely performed works in the repertoire and in 2024 performed Busoni’s mammoth piano concerto, following this with performances of the complete cycle of Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich in 2025. Apart from playing the piano, he also displays great interest in composition and has composed regularly since childhood.

KÄRT RUUBEL is an Estonian pianist and passionate chamber musician. She has performed widely across Europe in renowned venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic, among many others. In April 2018, Ruubel made her debut at the prestigious Debüt im Deutschlandfunk Kultur concert series in the Berlin Philharmonie, performing with her twin sister, violinist Triin Ruubel. 

In the same year, her first solo CD—featuring works by Handel, Bach, Fux, and Froberger—was released by GENUIN Classics. In autumn 2025, Ruubel released a second album dedicated to piano and chamber music by Eduard Tubin. Issued by the German label MDG, the recording was nominated for Best Classical Album of the Year at the Estonian Music Awards. 

Kärt Ruubel studied piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock with Prof. Matthias Kirschnereit and Prof. Stephan Imorde. She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the North German Philharmonic, Pärnu City Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra Vorpommern, and the Neophon Ensemble. 

An active chamber musician, Ruubel has performed at numerous festivals such as the Usedom Music Festival, Gezeiten Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Pärnu Music Festival, Rottweil Musikfestival Sommersprossen, and Hohenlohe Kultursommer. She has recorded for BBC Radio 3, North German Radio (NDR), and Bavarian Radio (BR Klassik), and has performed in Germany, Estonia, Sweden, Italy, South Africa, Armenia, and Switzerland. 

Ruubel is a founding member of the Germany-based Neophon Ensemble for contemporary music, through which she has collaborated with composers including Jörg Widmann, Peter Ruzicka, and Wolfgang Rihm. She gave the European debut of Marc Sabat’s piano concerto Lying in the Grass, River and Clouds and performed Walter Zimmermann’s piano concerto Ataraxia in 2015. 

Since 2022, Kärt Ruubel has served as Artistic Director of the chamber music festival Kammermuusika Fotografiskas. She is also a founding member of Ludensemble, a recently established ensemble of distinguished Estonian musicians united by curiosity, artistic integrity, and a strong commitment to chamber music. 

Based in New York City, LEO Gevisser (b. 2002) is a composer and performer who received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Juilliard School with academic honors in May 2024 under the mentorship of Jerome Lowenthal. He is currently an M.F.A. candidate in the Sound Arts program at Columbia University.

In 2024, Leo was awarded the 2nd Prize Caisse de Dépôts in the 16th Concours International de Piano d’Orléans—along with being awarded the Public Prize, Elliott Carter Prize, and the month-long Henri Dutilleux-Geneniève Joy Residency in France. Subsequently, he has been invited to perform as a soloist in contemporary music festivals and programmes across France and Italy.

Leo is a Young Steinway Artist.

Leo is the recipient of the First Prize at the Miesczysław Munz Scholarship Competition at The Juilliard School. In New York, he has been invited to perform solo recitals as part of the Sparkill Recital Series in New York for the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons. He has also been invited to perform in events and venues such as the Yale School of Music’s New Music New Haven series, as well as Harvard University.

Raised in Cape Town, Leo remains deeply connected to South Africa. There, his musical studies progressed under the tutelage of Professors Nina Schumann and Luis Magalhães. From 2022 up until now, he has been invited year after year to tour as a recitalist in cities across South Africa, as well as a soloist with all of South Africa’s major orchestras including the Cape Town, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Johannesburg, and Mzansi Philharmonic Orchestras. He joined the Piano Faculty for the 20th Anniversary of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF) in 2025, where he appeared as a soloist with the SICMF Alumni Orchestra; as well as the faculty of the 2026 Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium, where he was invited to perform a solo recital.

From the start of his musical career, Leo has continuously been involved with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Masidlale grassroots project: an outreach program teaching all orchestral instruments to underprivileged children in the townships around Cape Town. He has donated a portion of his performance fees to Masidlale since he was 13 years old.

As an active composer and producer, Leo’s works are constructed with intonation systems as well as spatial sound configurations. He has been invited to premiere compositions, electronic sets, and site-specific/time-specific sonic installations at places such as the Manitoga | Russel Wright Design Center, LittleGig in South Africa, the highSCORE Festival and Residency for Contemporary Composition in Italy, Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and the Juilliard School—including other locations across Europe and the U.S.. His setup includes a Lumatone isomorphic keyboard.

TINUS BOTHA completed his BMus in performing arts at the University of Pretoria, where he was a student of Joseph Stanford. In 1999 he was chosen as a fellow of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where he studied with renowned piano professor Jerome Lowenthal over the (US) summer months. A number of scholarships (among them the DJ Roode Overseas Scholarship from Unisa) enabled him to continue his studies at the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where he obtained a master’s degree under the guidance of José Feghali and Harold Martina. Upon his return to South Africa, he enrolled for a Doctor of Music degree at the University of Pretoria, and graduated in 2008. 

Tinus has received several scholarships and prizes, including the silver medal at the Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition in Wellington, the UNISA South African Music Scholarship, the D.J. Roode Overseas Scholarship and the Gertrude Buchanan Prize. He has received institutional awards from the NWU for excellence in creative outputs on six separate occasions. His performances as soloist, collaborator and chamber musician have taken him to many cities in South Africa, the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. His recent recordings of Romantic character pieces and selections from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier are regularly broadcast on Fine Music Radio.

He is the co-president of the World Association of Piano Teachers (South Africa), and the former editor (2019-2022) of The South African Music Teacher.  His essays have been featured in popular magazines such as Musicus, The SAMT, The Piano Journal, Piano Magazine, and Clavier Companion. He is regularly invited to be on the panel of adjudicators for several prominent music competitions in South Africa, and serves as external examiner for UP, Wits, UCT, US, and RU. Tinus is currently associate professor at the NWU School of Music in Potchefstroom.

Acknowledged as one of South Africa’s leading concert pianists and musicians, FRANÇOIS DU TOIT is an Associate Professor of Piano and Head of Practical Studies and Chamber Music at the University of Cape Town.  He received tuition in South Africa with Merryl Preston and Laura Searle and with Arie Vardi and Bernd Goetzke in Germany.

During his period of study, he distinguished himself in several international competitions, taking top prizes in Hannover, Rotterdam and Athens.

He has over 40 concertos in his repertoire, ranging from Bach to Scharwenka and has also performed the concerto premieres of South African composers, Hendrik Hofmeyr and Adrian More, collaborating with conductors including Bernhard Gueller, Omri Hadari, Alun Francis, Thomas Sanderling, Piero Gambo, Arjan Tien and Alexander Lazarev.  

Francois recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Victor Yampolsky for which he received the Creative Works Award from UCT. In 2017 the Cape Tercentenary Foundation awarded him the Molteno medal for his contribution to the arts in Cape Town.

CATHERINE FOXCROFT is Associate Professor (Piano, Music Psychology) and former HOD (2016 – 2022) at the Department of Music and Musicology, Rhodes University. She is the recipient of several awards at Rhodes University, including the VC’s Senior Distinguished Teaching Award (2015), Research Committee Grants (2023; 2024) and the 20-year Long Service award (2023).  In addition, she is the recipient of UNISA UPLM Overseas scholarship (1991), the UCT Jules Kramer PG scholarship (1991) and a UNISA Teaching award (2012). As an undergraduate student of Laura Searle at UCT, she won prizes in the national SABC, ATKV and UNISA competitions and performed as soloist with all the South African orchestras. She studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule fur Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover (HMTMH) in Germany from 1991 – 2002, where she completed her MMus and Konzertdiplom (postgraduate performance diploma) and was a semi-finalist and finalist at international competitions (Germany, Greece, Czech Republic, USA, and Italy). In 2014, her academic studies concluded with the conferral of the DMus (Performing Arts) degree by the University of Pretoria. Catherine combines a vibrant career in music as soloist, chamber musician, pedagogue, and researcher. She has performed frequently as a concerto soloist and solo recitalist and is an acclaimed chamber musician. Recent international solo performances include recitals in Birmingham Alabama, USA (2023) and Serbia (2022) and upcoming recitals include appearances in Spain and Serbia in 2024. Passionate about bringing new works by contemporary South African composers to the public arena, her recital programmes feature piano compositions such as Isiko and Umdlalo Emlanjeni (Bongani Ndodana-Breen), Jazz Impromptus (Alexander Johnson) as well as piano quintets Residue (Jan Hendrik Harley) and most recently SAFIKA: Three Tales of African Migration by Ndodana-Breen in collaboration with the Odeion String Quartet.  In 2001 and 2004, she gave solo recitals on board the Maxim Gorky, toured South Africa, Ireland and Germany with the Chameleon Trio (oboe/flute, bassoon, piano). She has recorded for the SABC, Radio Telifis (Ireland), Nord Deutsche Radio and the West Deutsche Radio (Germany). Her four CD recordings (In Concert, Recital, Beethoven 3rd Concerto, A Portrait) and her live concert recordings are broadcast frequently on FMR and SAfm in South Africa. Catherine is frequently invited to adjudicate national music competitions and has been on the faculty of the biennial Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium since 2006. In 2021, she was featured on Classic FM 1027 People of Note, a podcast series featuring prominent South African musicians. Catherine is the Creative Director of the World Piano Teachers Association. 

PIETER GROBLER is an Associate Professor of Piano at Stellenbosch University, where he lectures in piano performance, chamber music, vocal accompaniment, and repertoire studies. His interests in postgraduate supervision have centered around topics in analysis, pedagogy, repertoire studies and historiography as applicable to practical musicianship, all of which informs his teaching.  Pieter Grobler regularly acts as adjudicator and examiner throughout South Africa and is the organiser and chairman of the jury for the Hennie Joubert Piano Competition, held bi-annually as part of the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium.  Pieter has served as head of the music department at Stellenbosch University.  

He completed his undergraduate studies with Joseph Stanford at the University of Pretoria and postgraduate studies with Joseph Banowetz at the University of North Texas in the USA, where he completed the MM and DMA piano performance degrees.  

Grobler, has been described as a performer with “finesse, sensitivity and a flawless sense of the classical style”. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician all over South Africa, in the USA, Canada, China and Bulgaria.  To date he has given numerous South African premieres of works, the most noteworthy being Alexander Johnson's Piano Concerto Nr 2, as well as 3 Incantations for Piano (dedicated to him), Peter Klatzow's Sonata for Cello and Piano with Peter Martens, and Bongani Ndodana-Breen's Safika.  As an avid Lied collaborator, a recent recital together with mezzo-soprano, Minette du Toit Pearce was awarded a prize for best performance at the 2023 Woordfees arts festival in Stellenbosch.

ESTHEA KRUGER, piano lecturer at the South African College of Music since 2019, obtained her BMus and MMus (Piano Performance) degrees at Stellenbosch University under the guidance of Prof. Nina Schumann, her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of North Texas under the tutelage of Prof. Vladimir Viardo, and her Meisterklassendiplom at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg in the class of Prof. Bernd Glemser. Additionally, she specialised in Art Song Accompaniment, obtaining a second master’s degree in 2019 in Liedgestaltung from the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg as student of Prof. Gerold Huber.

Esthea Kruger has won prizes at many major competitions in South Africa, such as the SAMRO Overseas Scholarships Competition, the ATKV-Muziq Competition, the FMR/Pick 'n Pay Travel Award Competition, the Stonehage Bursary Competition, the Mabel Quick Overseas Scholarship Competition and the UNISA National Piano Competition. In 2009, she became the first music student to receive Stellenbosch University’s Chancellor’s Medal.

Apart from her solo performances, Esthea Kruger regularly appears in concert as accompanist and chamber musician, in South Africa and abroad. In 2018 she performed at the DAVOS FESTIVAL in Switzerland.

Esthea Kruger is the founder and artistic director of “Neues Lied”, a festival for art song that she has organised in Germany since 2018 and established in Cape Town in 2022. In 2020, the festival was awarded the City of Würzburg’s Culture Prize.

SUE PATERSON-JONES  studied at the University of Cape Town under Lamar Crowson and Albie van Schalkwyk where she obtained her MMus cum laude. Her research at the time focused on the application of the Alexander Technique to piano playing and she attended a number of workshops with Nelly Ben Or at the Guildhall School of Music. She was awarded a scholarship to study under Vladimir Viardo at the University of North Texas, during which time she was in demand both as an accompanist and a vocal coach.

In 2010 Sue started a private teaching studio. She has nurtured a dedicated student body of talented young performers who have excelled across many platforms in South Africa. Over the past few years she has been involved in a series of teacher training workshops in recognition of a need for teacher enrichment and collaboration. Her interest in pedagogy and more specifically in the building of a healthy technique led her to the Taubman approach.

For the past seven years she has received intensive training in this comprehensive system of coordinate movement. She has travelled to the USA many times to attend symposiums and workshops. At the 2019 symposium in Portland, Oregon she assisted in their teaching program as a part of her certification process, and in 2022, she was invited to talk on the Taubman approach at the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium. In 2024 she presented on developing successful practice habits in the young student and was also invited to be on the faculty.

In addition to maintaining her Cape Town studio, in 2025 Sue was appointed as a part time piano lecturer at the Stellenbosch University. As a performer, Sue is a passionate chamber musician and she performs
regularly with a variety of ensembles throughout South Africa. She also acts as an examiner and adjudicator in the Western Cape.

MEGAN-GEOFFREY PRINS, originally from Riversdale, South Africa, has established himself as a sought-after soloist and collaborative artist with performances across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has appeared in Canada, the USA, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Botswana, Mozambique, and South Africa, performing in venues such as Salle Cortot in Paris, the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, and the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. Prins made his concerto debut at age 11 and has since performed with orchestras in Germany, the USA, Botswana, and South Africa. His 2019 performances of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 were praised for their “technical precision,” “artistic expressivity,” and “transcendent” interpretation.

Prins has participated in numerous international competitions, including the Honens International Piano Competition, the Hong Kong International Piano Competition, the UNISA National and International Piano Competitions, and the Midwest International Piano Competition. He has received first and special prizes in the UNISA 120th Anniversary Competition, the inaugural Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival Competition, the 5th UNISA National Piano Competition, the 2016 Muziq Instrumental Competition, and the 2017 SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition. His work has been recognised with several South African festival awards, including a Woordtrofees for Best Instrumental Classical Music Production at the 2023 Toyota SU Woordfees and a KKNK Kanna Award for Best Upcoming Artist in 2009. In 2019, he was named the Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, and in 2021 he was included in the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans. He was also featured among Stellenbosch University’s hundred most notable graduates during the institution’s centennial celebrations.

Prins pursued postgraduate studies under Antonio Pompa-Baldi at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received the Sadie Zellen Piano Prize, the Arthur Loesser Memorial Prize, and the Maurice and Judith Kaplow Prize for Uncommon Creativity. He has performed under the batons of Daniel Boico, Bernard Gueller, Vincent de Kort, Gérard Korsten, Lykele Temmingh, Xandi van Dijk, Albert Horne, and Brandon Phillips, and has collaborated in festivals and tours with artists such as Daniel Rowland, Ferdinand Steiner, Wenzel Fuchs, Kyril Zlotnikov, Thomas Carroll, Demarre McGill, Rob Knopper, Gareth Lubbe, and James Austen Smith. His interest in orchestral conducting is ongoing through lessons with Daniel Boico.

Prins is currently a full-time piano lecturer at the University of Pretoria School of the Arts, where he teaches piano, didactics, and chamber music. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses at institutions and festivals, including the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival and the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium. His students have excelled in competitions such as the Philip H. Moore Music Competition, the Atterbury National Piano Competition, and the Hennie Joubert Piano Competition.

TESSA RHOODIE is the coordinator of the classical program and a full-time Associate Professor at the School of the Arts Music Department at the University of Pretoria. She has a doctorate in the Performing Arts and lectures in Piano, Aural training, Piano methodology, and Chamber music.

As pianist, she recently recorded all Chopin Nocturnes and performed the 2nd Chopin Piano concerto at the Musaion with the UP-Symphony orchestra. Her book on Piano tuition received an award from the National Arts Council. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on aspects of Piano tuition, Piano technique, and Piano performance. A financial grant was awarded to her by the University of Pretoria for her animation videos on piano technique. She recently (July 2025, Shanghai) gave 2 presentations at the “International Society for Performance Science” (ISPS) conference in her focus research area: Piano Methodology.

She adjudicates and chairs several national competitions (Artscape, Phillip Moore, Musiq, Unisa, Hennie Joubert), is on the Unisa panel of examiners, and gives master classes nationwide. Several of her students were first-prize winners at National competitions and were invited to audition at International Tertiary institutions.

 NINA SCHUMANN was born into a musical family and received her early music tuition from Rona Rupert and Lamar Crowson. Nina‘s first appearance with an orchestra was at the age of 15, and her talent captured the attention of the public when she won the Fifth National Music Competition for high school pupils in 1988. She went on to win the Oude Meester Music Prize (1989), the Forte Competition (1990), and during 1991 both the Wooltru Scholarship and the Adcock-Ingram Music Prize. She has over 140 concerto performances with orchestras in South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Armenia and the U.S.A. to her credit, and some 40 concertos in her repertoire.

In 1993 Ms Schumann won the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition and was awarded the Jules Kramer and Harry Crossley Bursaries for Overseas Study by the University of Cape Town. She crowned these prizes by winning the sought-after SABC Music Prize as well as the Oude Meester National Chamber Music Competition. International prizes followed: she won the prizes for the Best South African Pianist in the 1993 UNISA International Piano Competition, Finalist and Special Prize Winner at the Shreveport Concerto Competition (1996) and Third Prize in the Casablanca International Piano Competition (1997).

After completing her MMus at UCLA, Nina enrolled for the Doctorate of Music at the University of North Texas under the tutelage of Van Cliburn-winner, Vladimir Viardo. She received several academic prizes: Dean‘s Medal (UCT), Best Performer (UCLA), Best Performer (UNT), Best Pianist (UNT) and Best Doctoral Student (UNT).

Following her appointment as Associate Professor and Head of Piano at the University of Stellenbosch in 1999, Nina transferred her Doctorate to UCT from which she graduated in 2005. In 2009 she was awarded the UCT Rector‘s Award for Excellence in recognition of contribution to the music field.

Solo-career and academic life aside, Nina formed an internationally recognized duo with Luis Magalhaes. Their CDs have received rave reviews from international publications such as Diapason, International Record Review, Allmusic.com and American Record Guide. Nina also received the Their own record label, TwoPianists, is distributed worldwide by Naxos, German Critics Choice Award for Shakespeare Inspired, in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Michelle Breedt. She has twice been nominated for a SAMA and twice for a Fïesta Award. A dedicated teacher, Nina gave master classes at institutions such as the Juilliard School of Music and she has performed in Wigmore Hall and the Zurich Tonhalle.

Since her diagnosis with breast cancer and focal dystonia in 2012 and Parkinson’s Disease in 2018, she has publicly discussed her condition and actively sought to assist other musicians with similar challenges.

ANDREW WARBURTON is acknowledged as one of the finest solo pianists and accompanists in South Africa. He was born in 1963 in Johannesburg, and studied piano from a very early age, first in Johannesburg and then with Denise Macpherson of Durban North. In 1981 he enrolled at the University of KwaZulu-Natal under renowned Italian pianist Isabella Stengel, and the following year he made his debut in the Durban City Hall in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no 2. He completed his BMus in 1985 with 95% for major subjects. Since then he has pursued a diverse musical career as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician throughout Southern Africa. He has lectured at UKZN, both part-time and permanently, since 1987.

Warburton has performed with all the South African orchestras, encompassing a repertoire of 25 concertos, including Tchaikovsky no 1 and 2, Prokofiev no 3, Beethoven no 4, Samuel Barber, Saint-Saëns no 5 and many others, collaborating with international conductors such as Leslie Dunner, Victor Yampolsky, Patrick Thomas, John Hopkins and David Tidboald. He has partnered leading soloists from abroad including Mark Drobinsky (cello, Russia), Elizabeth Connell (soprano, UK) and Leslie Parnas (cello, USA). He has always prized chamber music and lieder accompanying, and has performed the complete piano chamber music of Beethoven and Brahms, as well as all the song cycles of Schubert and Schumann. He is known for giving multiple performances of various taxing concertos, often twice a day for ballet performances in Cape Town and Pretoria under David Tidboald while working as Musical Director for the State Theatre Ballet until its demise in 2000.

He has performed in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III, during their visits to South Africa, and gave several solo and chamber recitals in Germany in 1998. In 2001 he was invited to serve as an official accompanist for the UNISA International Strings Competition in Pretoria, and subsequently served as accompanist at four of these prestigious events, and will serve at the 7th International Voice Competition in January 2026. He is a longstanding featured soloist in the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra’s World Symphony Series: since his debut performance in 1982.

Recent concert highlights include performances for the UFS, NWU and UNISA concert series, given during 2023 to 2025, these included solo and chamber performances. Most notable was an all Schubert programme, which included the “Wanderer” Fantasy D.760, and the last sonata in B flat, D.960. The newly formed eThekwini Piano Trio also performed in these series. Then on home ground, Warburton performed a 4-concert series entitled “Mostly Beethoven” in November 2025, including the “Appassionata” sonata, the “Kreutzer” and the “Archduke” Trio.