Liezl Stoltz and Francois Du Toit in Concert

Liesl Stoltz initially studied the flute with Eva Tamassy at the University of Stellenbosch. In 1995, after master classes in Johannesburg, Shigenori Kudo offered her a scholarship to study with him at the...

Date: 26 September 2012 19:30 - 26 September 2012 23:00
Location: Masterclass
Organiser: Music and Musicology (Phone 046 603-8489)
Event Type: Alumni

LIEZL STOLTZ AND FRANCOIS DU TOIT

‌

Event: Liesl Stoltz (flute) and Francois Du Toit (piano) - Concert

Venue: Beethoven Room, Rhodes Department of Music & Musicology

Date: Tuesday 25 September 2012

Time: 19h30

Entrance: R50, R20 concessions

Masterclass: Wednesday 26 September, starting at 08h40

Liesl Stoltz initially studied the flute with Eva Tamassy at the University of Stellenbosch. In 1995, after master classes in Johannesburg, Shigenori Kudo offered her a scholarship to study with him at the Ecole Normale de Musique: Alfred Cortot in Paris, France. She also studied with Pierre-Yves Artaud, Chantal Debushy at the same institution and with Peter-Lukas Graf at the Accademia Internazionale Superiore di Musica: Lorenso Perosi in Italy and obtained various Concert Diplomas with distinction. In South Africa she obtained the degrees BMus Hons, MMus and DMus from the University of Cape Town and a Performer’s Licentiate from UNISA.

While studying in Europe, Liesl had master classes with Jean-Pierre Rampal, William Bennet, Maxence Larrieux, Patrick Gallois and
Trevor Wye. She won numerous first and other prizes in national and international competitions, the most recent being third prize in the 12th Timisoara International Flute Competition in Romania, first prize in the 12th Frederich Kuhlau International Flute Competition in 2007 in Germany and first prize for best interpretation of work by Kuhlau. Together with classical guitarist Pedro Rodrigues she received second prize in the 2001‘Gaetano Zinetti’ International Chamber Music Competition in Verona, Italy and the ‘Morelati Award for Excellence’. The duo recorded a CD in 2004 which was nominated for GMT as well as SAMA awards in South Africa.

Liesl has appeared as soloist with the Cape Town-, Eastern Cape and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Free State Symphony
and with the UCT String Ensemble, Camerata Tinta Barocca and Odeion Simfonia. She was part of the 2011 production Vuurvoël (with Mario Nell and Magdalene Minnaar) which was nominated for a Kanna award at the 2011 Klein Karoo Art Festival.

At present Liesl performs extensively as soloist and chamber musician and teaches at the South African College of Music, University
of Cape Town. Since 2012 she is an AW Mellon foundation Post-doctorate fellow at UCT. She also regularly acts as adjudicator for local eisteddfods and music competitions.

Acknowledged as one of South Africa’s leading concert pianists and musicians, Francois Du Toit is an Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Cape Town.  Receiving his early musical training from Merryl Preston, he went on to complete an Honours degree at the University of Cape Town, studying under the distinguished pianist and teacher, Laura Searle. Also holding diplomas up to Fellowship level from the Trinity College of Music, London, he studied for the Solistendiplom at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, under the renowned pedagogues Arie Vardi and Bernd Goetzke.

During his period of study abroad he distinguished himself in several important international piano competitions, taking top
prizes in the 1991 Hannover Music Competition, the 1992 Rotterdam and 1993 Marsala Internationals, and the 1994 International Maria Callas Competition in Athens.

Appearing as an acclaimed soloist with orchestras (both locally and abroad) since the age of fifteen, François du Toit was
selected, while still a student at UCT, to accompany the former Cape Town Symphony Orchestra as soloist on its historic tour of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1988. He has over 30 concertos in his repertoire, ranging from Bach to Hendrik Hofmeyr and has performed with conductors including Bernhard Gueller, Victor Yampolsky,  Omri Hadari , Alun Francis, Dawid de Villiers, Piero Gambo,
Arjan Tien and Alexander Lazarev.  Together with Anmari van der Westhuizen and Farida  Bacharova he formed the UCT Piano Trio and also appears with Franklin Larey as the Ixopo Piano Duo.  He is constantly in demand as accompanist for visiting artists such as Wolfgang David, Philippe Quint, Antje Weithaus and Ilya Gringolts to name but a few. In July 2006 he released his first solo CD comprising works of Bach-Busoni, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Chopin and in 2010 TwoPianists record label re-released his recording of
the Tchaikovsky 1st Piano Concerto and the Rachmaninoff Paganini Variations with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. In August of 2007 he took part in the 3rd International Stift Chamber Music Festival in the Netherlands after which, he travelled to the USA where he gave recitals and masterclasses in Omaha, Nebraska and Madison, Wisconsin. In 2010 Francois  accompanied Julian Loyd-Webber in a recital in South Africa.

In between lecturing in Cape Town, Francois is often invited to sit as juror for competitions throughout the country and abroad.

Download Options

Download as csv file

Download iCalendar file