_{As professional pianist, Waldo has more than 30 years performance experience as soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician. His interest in the art of performance is intricately linked with his work as artist-teacher and includes expert knowledge on deliberate practice and the psychology of performance.}

Piet Koornhof has more than four decades of experience as professional violinist, ensemble player and teacher. He studied with Susan Sauerman, Alan Solomon and later with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York. He founded the South African Chamber Music Society in 1986 which presented top South African chamber music performers in concerts and international recordings. He has recorded for Koch Discover International and Delos. He is also a qualified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

Pianist and educator Tinus Botha has been the recipient of several awards, including the silver medal at the Hennie Joubert Piano Competition in Wellington, the UNISA South African Music Scholarship, Unisa’s DJ Roode Overseas Scholarship, and the Gertrude Buchanan Prize. He was a finalist and prize winner in the first Nederburg South African National Piano Competition. During his undergraduate studies, he completed three licentiates – teacher’s and performer’s licentiates from Unisa, as well as a performer’s licentiate from Trinity College.

Chris van Rhyn holds the degrees BMus, BMus (Honours) (Composition), MMus (Composition) and PhD (Music) from Stellenbosch University. He teaches Music Theory at North-West University’s School of Music and is the Director of the Research Focus Area Musical Arts in South Africa: Resources and Applications (MASARA). His research focuses on the works of art music composers from Anglophone Africa, especially those of the British-South African composer Priaulx Rainier. Chris is also engaged in artistic (practice-based and -led) research in Composition.    

Liesl van der Merwe is a professor in the School of Music and MASARA at the North-West University, South Africa. Her research interests lie in the fields of music and well-being, positive psychology, music and spirituality, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and lived musical experiences. Liesl supervises qualitative postgraduate music studies in the field of music education and also teaches research methodology, music education and bassoon. She has published articles in high-impact journals.

Antoinette Olivier studied piano and singing at the University of the Witwatersrand. As an active performer she was engaged in professional performances and productions for Pact Opera, Salon Music, Brooklyn Theatre, Roodepoort Theatre and the Black Tie Ensemble. She appears on three of Salon Music’s CD’s and DVD, “Celebration”. Antoinette performed the world premiere of Hendrik Hofmeyr’s Song Cycle for Soprano and Orchestra (1999).

Mignon van Vreden is an associate professor in music education at North-West University’s School of Music. She completed her BMus, BMus Hons and MMus degrees at Stellenbosch University and received her PhD from NWU in 2014, exploring a conceptual framework for integrating music in grade R. Her main instrument is piano, and research interests include music education in childhood, undergraduate music teacher education, and project-based service learning in higher music education.

Catrien Wentink completed her DMus degree in piano performance in 2017 at North-West University under the guidance of Dr Truida van der Walt. Her focus was on ensemble music and piano accompaniment.

Prof Conroy Cupido completed a music degree at Stellenbosch University, a Master in Music degree and Artist Certificate at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and he was the first South African to complete a Doctorate degree in Vocal Performance which was conferred at the University of North Texas. While a member of Cape Town Opera’s Vocal Ensemble, Prof Cupido was recruited by American soprano and Professor of Voice, Barbara Hill Moore, to further his studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Jaco Kruger has been studying the musical culture of the Venda people of the Vhembe district of South Africa’s Limpopo Province since 1983. He completed a M.Mus dissertation under the supervision of Deirdre Hansen (UCT) in 1985 on Venda musical bows and the xylophone, and a doctoral thesis on Venda guitar music in 1993 under the guidance of Andrew Tracey (Rhodes).