Bronwyn van Wieringen

From the top of Table Mountain to large concert halls, South African pianist Bronwyn van Wieringen (1995) has performed extensively in her home country as both a soloist and chamber musician. After completing a Bachelor of Music degree at the South African College of Music, she moved to London in 2017 to pursue a Master of Arts Degree in Performance (Piano Accompaniment) at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Noticeable achievements include winning the Schock Foundation Prize for Chamber Music, the Johann Vos Piano Competition, the SACS National Music Competition and being placed third in the Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition, as well as performing as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra, the University of Cape Town Symphony Orchestra and the Musicanti Chamber Orchestra.

Bronwyn is currently studying with Michael Dussek and Ian Brown and previous influential teachers include Albie van Schalkwyk, Beverly Fair and Nancy Hofmeyr. She has also received master classes from numerous renowned pianists, including Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Olga Kern, Helmut Deutsch, Justus Zeyen, Edith Zvi, Julian Jacobson and Anthony Hewitt, among others.

Bronwyn has been the recipient of a number of South African scholarships during the course of her undergraduate degree and her current studies are generously supported by scholarships from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, Haworth/Wahl Trust, Goodenough College and Friends of Orchestral Music Cape Town.

The last two years have seen Bronwyn performing recitals for local music societies around South Africa and London, performing on top of Table Mountain for World Piano Day as one of thirteen pianists selected from across South Africa, and accompanying the choir, VOX Cape Town, for their performance and recording of their album Trust the Silences. In August 2017, she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in B-flat major, K.595, with the Musicanti Orchestra and, after being selected to participate in the 2017 SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition for Keyboardists in Pretoria, she was awarded the SAMRO/Fisher Music Study Award. Whilst in London, she has focused mainly on improving her musical skills and has performed numerous times at the Academy. She is also a member of the Academy’s prestigious Song Circle.

Bronwyn has also played the violin since the age of four and passed her Grade 8 Exam with Distinction in 2011. Playing the violin has provided her with invaluable insight into the other side of collaborative music making and also given her the opportunity to play in a number of orchestras, the most significant being the MIAGI Youth Orchestra with which she toured Austria and Germany with in 2012.

Whilst music very much dominates her life, Bronwyn also garners a wide range of interests, from history and current affairs to science. Her other major passion in life is horses and she loves to spend her free time riding, playing squash and running.