Nicolene Van der Walt was born and educated in South Africa. At the age of 11, she made her first radio and television appearances as a young composer. During the following years, she performed as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with major South African symphony orchestras. Early successes include a concert of her Sonata for violin and piano and Constellations for solo piano at an international symposium for the gifted child (hosted by the University of Stellenbosch), and countrywide appearances as guest artist with the South African National Youth Orchestra in Rachmaninow’s Second Piano Concerto.

Having completed her BMus(Hons) at the University of Cape Town, Nicolene was awarded overseas scholarships by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, the University of South Africa, and the South African Music Rights Organisation. Further studies at the Royal College of Music led to numerous prizes and awards, notably for performances of works by Schumann, Brahms and Janacek, and to completion of an MMus in Performance Studies.

Nicolene also attained an MPhil in Composition from Cambridge University under the tutelage of Robin Holloway and Alexander Goehr.

Nicolene has performed throughout the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and Egypt, and has a special interest in vocal music and song repertoire.

She has written and recorded music for theatre productions of Vanity Fair and A Lion in Winter.

Nicolene is on the piano staff of Uppingham School and has for the past three years given masterclasses at the National Young Pianists’ Week, a summer course aimed at pianists from the United Kingdom and abroad.