Beau Soleil Piano Quartet

Dane Coetzee

Dane Coetzee (cello) started playing the cello in the New Apostolic Church and later became a student at Beau Soleil Music Centre. He was a member of the CPYO and went on to graduate in cello performance studies at UCT and the US respectively. He is currently studying towards his Masters’ degree at Stellenbosch University under Peter Martens.

As a member of the Stellenbosch Graduate string quartet he won 1st prize in the National Ensemble competition. He has performed concerts and participated in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, The Harare International Festival of the Arts, Zimbabwe and The Festival of Music In Santa Catarina, Brazil and has embarked on tours performing in the USA, Dubai and Hong Kong. Dane has also appeared as soloist and chamber musician at the KKNK, Suidoosterfees, The National Arts Festival, Klein Karoo Klassique and has performed as soloist with the CPO, the CPYO and the Musicanti Orchestra.

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Marina Louw

Marina Louw (viola) obtained a B.Mus (cum laude) at the Odeion School of Music, UFS, majoring in viola performance under the tuition of John Wille. She performed as a soloist at several Youth Music Concerto Festivals and was also a member of the National Youth Orchestra.  While still a student, Marina regularly performed with faculty members in the Consortium Musicum and several chamber music recitals.

After completing her degree, Marina became a fulltime member of the National Symphony Orchestra of the SABC for a couple of years before moving to Cape Town. She furthered her studies at the University of Stellenbosch, obtaining a M.Mus (cum laude) in 2005. During this time she had several master classes in Oxford (UK) with the renowned Hungarian violinist and teacher, Kató Havas.

Marina has taught viola and didactics as a part time lecturer at the US and has been a UNISA examiner for many years. She has also adjudicated the Sanlam Primary Schools Competition and the ATKV Prelude Competition.  

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Valentina Vorster

Valentina Vorster (violin) started playing the violin at the age of five. She obtained her BMus in Violin Performance with the late Prof. Eli Kazakova at the National Academy of Music in her native country Bulgaria, where she won several national competitions for solo violin and chamber music. As a member of two Bulgarian State Symphony orchestras, she participated in various opera tours throughout Europe.

She joined KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and Baroque 2000 Orchestra in Durban, South Africa in 2002, holding the position of Co-principal of the first violinists in the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra between 2006-2009 and appearing as a soloist with both orchestras on several occasions. Valentina was a member of the Wouter String Quartet, which was voted Best Classical group in KZN for 2007. Throughout her career she performed in a variety of chamber concerts with several of South Africa’s top musicians.

Valentina was a part-time violin teacher at Beau Soleil Music Centre after which she became a full-time violin and viola teacher at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre, where she conducted the Senior String orchestra and was the concertmaster of the Symphony orchestra. Since 2019 she has had her own violin studio and a student string orchestra Da Cape’O Strings at El Shaddai Christian School in Durbanville.

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Dr Grethe Nöthling

Dr Grethe Nöthling (piano) holds a Doctorate of Music from the University of Iowa and a Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music, USA. After her musical debut at age 7, performing as soloist with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, she won several national music competitions, awards and bursaries including the Sanlam Music Competition (1994), ABSA National Music Competition (Piano Category: 1998), ATKV Prelude Competition (2000), Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition (2000), Lionel Bowman Beethoven Competition (2001) and UNISA Overseas Scholarship for Teachers (2003).

As a young pianist she performed as a soloist with the CPO, KZN Philharmonic and the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. More recently she made her debut as soloist with the Free State Symphony Orchestra in 2017.  Her teachers included Ella Fourie, Joseph Stanford, Daniel Shapiro, Paul Schenly and Uriel Tsachor. 

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