Piano in Flower

Hermanus Botanical Society

 presents

PIANO IN FLOWER

With

Pianist & poet

Lara Kirsten

Saturday 15 February 2025

16:00

Amphitheater in the

Fernkloof Botanical Gardens

Tickets R150 (R75 scholars)

Tickets at Quicket

Contact Lara 082 325 4258

To save on space, this is not a picnic-style concert - chairs will be hired for the occasion

Bring sunhat along. There will be seats in both shaded and sunny spots

With this performance Lara is celebrating one of her most flowering seasons in her life and career

Pieces inspired by flowers, gardens, butterflies, birds, rain and trees!

Music by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Bartok, De Falla, Boulanger, Delibes, Daquin, Joplin, Rani and Einaudi.

A Yamaha Grand piano will be brought in for this blooming occasion!

In the case of unfavourable weather, the backup venue will be the United Church,

13 Royal street (opposite the Station mall, Hermanus).

In this case each ticket holder will be notified via email/sms

A bighearted Thank You to the sponsors on board so far who have contributed to the cost for the hire of the grand piano:

HiQ, PSG Wealth, Pam Golding Properties, Wonderland Lifestyle Nursery, Suzuki/Toyota, OK Minimark Voëlklip , Dutchies and Hermanus Hardware

Artist Bio

Lara Kirsten is a pianist, piano teacher and performance poet. After completing her high school career at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg in 1997, Lara received her BMus and BMus Honours degrees, both cum laude at the University of Pretoria. Joseph Stanford and Wessel van Wyk were her mentors in solo piano and chamber music respectively. In 1999 she was awarded a SAMRO bursary for undergraduate students. In 2002 she received her chamber music licentiate from UNISA. She was appointed junior lecturer at the University of Pretoria where she taught piano from 2003 to 2005.

For the past fifteen years Lara has been active as both a solo and chamber musician performing with musicians such as coloratura soprano Linda van Coppenhagen, soprano Gwyneth Lloyd, tenor Sandile Mabaso, clarinettist Morné van Heerden, cellists Wessel Beukes and Francois le Roux, flautists Thomas de Bruin and Kaolin Thomson, pianist Laura Pauna and conductor Richard Cock and his Chanticleer Singers. She often performs her poetry within her music recitals. She has performed in venues such as the Sandton Theatre on the Square, the Baxter concert hall in Cape Town, the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, the Guy Butler Theatre in Grahamstown, the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg and Northwards House in Johannesburg.

Lara has performed at the Wakkerstroom Music Festival, the McGregor Poetry Festival, the AfrikaBurn Festival in the Tankwa Karoo, the opening ceremony for the International Aquarium Congress hosted at the CTICC, the Woordfees in Stellenbosch, the Hilton Arts Festival, the Michaelhouse Music Festival in KwaZulu-Natal and the Voorkamer Fest in Darling.

In November 2019 Lara settled in Sandbaai in the Overstrand region of the Western Cape - her base from where she currently works, rehearses and teaches.

Lara’s poetry, videos, photos and creative projects can be viewed on her blog at http://laraafrika.blogspot.com/