Lara Kirsten in recital in Lidgetton, The KZN Midlands, December 2012 (photo: Kavish Rajpaul)
Lara Kirsten is a pianist, performance poet and piano teacher.
As pianist
After completing her high school career at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg, Lara received her BMus and BMus Honours degrees (both cum laude) respectively in 2001 and 2005, at the University of Pretoria. Prof. Joseph Stanford and Dr. Wessel van Wyk were her mentors in solo piano and chamber music respectively. In 1998 she received the Piano Grade 8 certificate from UNISA with distinction. In 1999 she was awarded a SAMRO bursary for undergraduate students and received the Advanced Certificate for Piano from The Royal Schools of Music. In 2002 she received her chamber music licentiate from UNISA.
From the end of 2005 to 2008 she went on tour with the improvising cellist Francois le Roux over the roads of SA, Europe and the USA. For the last fifteen years Lara has been active as both a solo and chamber musician. She has played with musicians such as coloratura soprano Linda van Coppenhagen, soprano Gwyneth Lloyd, tenor Sandile Mabaso, clarinetist Morné van Heerden and cellist Wessel Beukes and flutists Thomas de Bruin and Kaolin Thomson.
In March, 2013 Lara participated in the Wakkerstroom Music Festival where she and Morné van Heerden presented the music concert The Dance. An exciting project in 2013 (and again in 2017) was trekking her piano all the way from her home in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal to the AfrikaBurn festival (in the Tankwa Karoo of the Northern Cape) where she gave three open-air piano recitals. Concerts in KwaZulu-Natal include two tours with tenor Sandile Mabaso in 2013 and 2014, where they performed at venues such as the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, the Michaelhouse Chapel in Balgowan and the Mariannhill Monastery. In March 2015 Lara performed with Sandile in Schubert’s song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin at the Woordfees in Stellenbosch. In June of the same year, Lara performed at the FynArts Festival in Hermanus. In August of 2015 Lara Kirsten and fellow pianist Laura Pauna performed the Liebeslieder Waltzer by Brahms with conductor Richard Cock and the Chanticleer Singers in the St. Francis Anglican church in Johannesburg and the Sasolburg Theater. In 2016 and 2018 she had the privilege to perform at the Michaelhouse Music Festival in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2018 Lara performed and presented workshops at the Rhodes Stoepsitfees and in September of the same year she performed at the Voorkamer Fest in Darling. Another highlight for Lara in 2018 was to be invited by Christopher Duigan to be part of the concert series celebrating the inauguration of the new Shigeru Kawai grand piano in the Tatham Art Gallery.
Other interesting places where Lara performed was at the Baardskeerdersbos Art Route in the Overberg, various performances for the Kindlewood soireé series in Johannesburg, the Crab Apple chapel in the Dargle, Sagewood café in Pietermaritzburg, the Overstone farm in Dalton, the Conscious Café in Hillcrest, the Waterfall Retreat Center in Waterfall,the Music in the Hills at the Knoll in Hilton and the Steampunk Coffee shop in Lionsriver (the last 7 venues located in KwaZulu-Natal).
As of November 2019 Lara is settling in the Overstrand region of the Western Cape - her new base from where she will be working, rehearsing, teaching and traveling on her concert tours.
After completing her high school career at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg, Lara received her BMus and BMus Honours degrees (both cum laude) respectively in 2001 and 2005, at the University of Pretoria. Prof. Joseph Stanford and Dr. Wessel van Wyk were her mentors in solo piano and chamber music respectively. In 1998 she received the Piano Grade 8 certificate from UNISA with distinction. In 1999 she was awarded a SAMRO bursary for undergraduate students and received the Advanced Certificate for Piano from The Royal Schools of Music. In 2002 she received her chamber music licentiate from UNISA.
From the end of 2005 to 2008 she went on tour with the improvising cellist Francois le Roux over the roads of SA, Europe and the USA. For the last fifteen years Lara has been active as both a solo and chamber musician. She has played with musicians such as coloratura soprano Linda van Coppenhagen, soprano Gwyneth Lloyd, tenor Sandile Mabaso, clarinetist Morné van Heerden and cellist Wessel Beukes and flutists Thomas de Bruin and Kaolin Thomson.
In March, 2013 Lara participated in the Wakkerstroom Music Festival where she and Morné van Heerden presented the music concert The Dance. An exciting project in 2013 (and again in 2017) was trekking her piano all the way from her home in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal to the AfrikaBurn festival (in the Tankwa Karoo of the Northern Cape) where she gave three open-air piano recitals. Concerts in KwaZulu-Natal include two tours with tenor Sandile Mabaso in 2013 and 2014, where they performed at venues such as the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, the Michaelhouse Chapel in Balgowan and the Mariannhill Monastery. In March 2015 Lara performed with Sandile in Schubert’s song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin at the Woordfees in Stellenbosch. In June of the same year, Lara performed at the FynArts Festival in Hermanus. In August of 2015 Lara Kirsten and fellow pianist Laura Pauna performed the Liebeslieder Waltzer by Brahms with conductor Richard Cock and the Chanticleer Singers in the St. Francis Anglican church in Johannesburg and the Sasolburg Theater. In 2016 and 2018 she had the privilege to perform at the Michaelhouse Music Festival in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2018 Lara performed and presented workshops at the Rhodes Stoepsitfees and in September of the same year she performed at the Voorkamer Fest in Darling. Another highlight for Lara in 2018 was to be invited by Christopher Duigan to be part of the concert series celebrating the inauguration of the new Shigeru Kawai grand piano in the Tatham Art Gallery.
Other interesting places where Lara performed was at the Baardskeerdersbos Art Route in the Overberg, various performances for the Kindlewood soireé series in Johannesburg, the Crab Apple chapel in the Dargle, Sagewood café in Pietermaritzburg, the Overstone farm in Dalton, the Conscious Café in Hillcrest, the Waterfall Retreat Center in Waterfall,the Music in the Hills at the Knoll in Hilton and the Steampunk Coffee shop in Lionsriver (the last 7 venues located in KwaZulu-Natal).
As of November 2019 Lara is settling in the Overstrand region of the Western Cape - her new base from where she will be working, rehearsing, teaching and traveling on her concert tours.
Lara’s concerts and teaching are not only focused on the existing classics, but include improvising too.
As performance poet: Lara balances the strict discipline of the art
music with the writing and performance of her own poetry in Afrikaans and
English. On occasion she combines poetry with movement, visual art, photography
and music. In August 2007 she made her debut as a performance poet with the
one-woman piece Ingrid Jonker Dans Weer. She performed her
first extensive installation art and poetry piece, Frames, at the
Fook Festival in Somerset-East in 2008. This work consisted of eight poems
which she performed in eight different rooms with dialoguing installation art,
costume and movement. In 2009 she made her debut in The Netherlands in the
show Op het Punt van Aanraken (featuring music improvised by
Francois le Roux, photography by Carmen Gonzalez and poems written and
performed by Lara). In 2009 she was commissioned to write and perform poetry
for the 60th Anniversary of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, taking a strong
view on what it is to be an Afrikaner today. In September of 2010 and 2011 she
had the privilege to perform as pianist and poet in the Baxter concert hall in
Cape Town. In 2012 a highlight was performing in the Guy Butler theatre at The
Settler's Monument in Grahamstown. She has been invited to write and perform
poetry for part of the opening ceremony for the International Aquarium
Congress hosted at the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre)
in September 2012. From 2014 to 2019 she performed at the McGregor Poetry Festival. In the festival of 2016 she performed one of her most significant pieces mond: asemrowende spelonk for which Lara's body was calligraphed with excerpts from her Afrikaans poetry by calligrapher Andrew van der Merwe.
In 2017 Lara performed her installation piece The Poem as Mirror at the Plett Arts Festival and the McGregor Poetry Festival.
Since 2009 Lara has performed as featured poet at the Off the Wall poetry sessions in Observatory, Cape Town. From December 2016 to 2019 she also performed at the monthly open mic poetry sessions at Steampunk Coffee shop in Lions River in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal.
On occasion Lara has assisted in writing facilitation for the Helenvale Poets in the Northern areas of Port Elizabeth.
In 2017 Lara performed her installation piece The Poem as Mirror at the Plett Arts Festival and the McGregor Poetry Festival.
Since 2009 Lara has performed as featured poet at the Off the Wall poetry sessions in Observatory, Cape Town. From December 2016 to 2019 she also performed at the monthly open mic poetry sessions at Steampunk Coffee shop in Lions River in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal.
On occasion Lara has assisted in writing facilitation for the Helenvale Poets in the Northern areas of Port Elizabeth.
A highlight for Lara for 2019 was to
read her poetry in an interview on the Afrikaans radio station RSG (Radio
sonder grense) in Frieda van den Heever’s poetry program Vers en Klank.
From
2010 to 2012 Lara has conceived and performed one-woman poetry happenings at
the annual AfrikaBurn festival hosted in the Tankwa Karoo in the Northern Cape.
In 2010 she performed her two previously performed works Ingrid Jonker
Dans Weer and Frames. A highlight was the piece she conceived
and performed in 2011 Klei verewig / Life Vitrified which took her
to the “bowels” of the earth – she half-buried herself in the soil at
AfrikaBurn, from where she started a birthing process developing into a primal
poetry/dance piece. With this piece Lara dialogued with the soil, her audience and herself thus attempting to reconcile
various facets of the natural creative process, whilst honouring the earth and
one’s identity and heritage. In 2012 she created two performance pieces for the
festival - Tankwa Reflex was an art installation and performance
poetry piece which consisted of 700 granny smith apples, water, a mirror mosaic
and Lara’s green and white painted body. She chose over 40 different poems
written by herself and other poets (including Pablo Neruda and Ian McCallum),
printed, cut and laminated the poetry to drift on water contained in 30 green
enamel bowls. The other piece she wrote, The Voices of the
Ancestors, was a poem she performed for the burning of Temple Solace
(created by the artist Simon Max Bannister).
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As published poet
Lara's poetry has been published in the South African Literary Journal New
Contrast. In 2008 she became part of the Eastern Cape poet-group, Ecca, who presents readings and
publishes collectively each year. In 2015, 2016 and 2017 poems by Lara have been selected to feature in the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology. She has compiled and edited three poetry books Poetry @Steampunk Coffee (2017) and Poetry next to the railway (2018 & 2019). In 2019 a poem of hers has been selected to feature in the vibrant literary magazine Ons Klyntji.
During South Africa's Lockdown from April to August 2020, Lara steered a poetry project funded by the ClemenGold citrus company. Writers from across the country submitted writings inspired by the naartjie/mandarin. The e-booklet of the poems can be viewed here: ClemenGold poetry e-booklet
Right: Lara's piano recital in the Tankwa Karoo during the AfrikaBurn Festival, May 2013 (photo: Kenny Yu)
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| Lara performing in her performance poetry piece mond: asemrowende spelonk at the McGregor Poetry Festival in 2016 (photo: Daniele Debellis) |
Awards
The Patricia Schonstein Acclaim award for 2019 was presented to Lara Kirsten for her dynamic, innovative and bilingual performances - incorporative of poetry, music and drama - at the Poetry in McGregor Festivals, and for her ongoing, invaluable support of the festival initiative.
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(Acclaim awards presented to poets, writers or creative people for life-time achievement or for their support of poetry).
Teaching & community work
Already whilst a student, Lara started earning a living through part-time piano teaching. She was appointed junior lecturer at the University of Pretoria where she taught piano from 2003 to 2005. For the last semester of 2011 she was appointed music teacher on the full-time staff of the Roedean Girls' School in Parktown, Johannesburg. From 2012 Lara has been teaching piano from her home and at her students' homes. From 2014 to 2020 Lara has been invited to serve as adjudicator for the Pietermaritzburg Eisteddfod of the South African Society of Music Teachers. She also adjudicated the poetry-recitation category for the Bedford Eisteddfod in the Eastern Cape in September 2019.
Through her travels Lara makes time to present outreach projects for various communities. Seeing that these projects are focused on places with very little extra funding, no money is earned through these and may be coined as Lara's community work. These events take the form of piano workshops and performances for schools, retirement homes, homes for the mentally challenged and frail care centers around the country.
Her tour in September 2019 took her to the drought-stricken region of the Eastern Cape. Her route took her to selected schools and retirement homes in the towns of Bedford, Adelaide, Somerset-East, Humansdorp and Jeffreys Bay. She presented concerts at the retirement homes and workshops in piano-playing and improvisation at the schools.
Lara's tour of the Eastern Cape in March 2020 was kindly funded by the National Arts Council (the NAC). This tour was an expanded version of her 2019 tour taking her to schools and retirement homes in Kareedouw, Joubertina, Port Elizabeth, Makhanda, Bedford, Somerset-East and Humansdorp.
Already whilst a student, Lara started earning a living through part-time piano teaching. She was appointed junior lecturer at the University of Pretoria where she taught piano from 2003 to 2005. For the last semester of 2011 she was appointed music teacher on the full-time staff of the Roedean Girls' School in Parktown, Johannesburg. From 2012 Lara has been teaching piano from her home and at her students' homes. From 2014 to 2020 Lara has been invited to serve as adjudicator for the Pietermaritzburg Eisteddfod of the South African Society of Music Teachers. She also adjudicated the poetry-recitation category for the Bedford Eisteddfod in the Eastern Cape in September 2019.
Through her travels Lara makes time to present outreach projects for various communities. Seeing that these projects are focused on places with very little extra funding, no money is earned through these and may be coined as Lara's community work. These events take the form of piano workshops and performances for schools, retirement homes, homes for the mentally challenged and frail care centers around the country.
Her tour in September 2019 took her to the drought-stricken region of the Eastern Cape. Her route took her to selected schools and retirement homes in the towns of Bedford, Adelaide, Somerset-East, Humansdorp and Jeffreys Bay. She presented concerts at the retirement homes and workshops in piano-playing and improvisation at the schools.
Lara's tour of the Eastern Cape in March 2020 was kindly funded by the National Arts Council (the NAC). This tour was an expanded version of her 2019 tour taking her to schools and retirement homes in Kareedouw, Joubertina, Port Elizabeth, Makhanda, Bedford, Somerset-East and Humansdorp.
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| Lara with her audience at Amberfield Frail Care in Howick, 2017 |
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| Lara after her performance at Sunfield Home for the Mentally Challenged in Howick |
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| Lara workshopping with the Helenvale Poets, Port Elizabeth, 2018 |
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