Johannesburg-born André Swanepoel is Principal
Second Violin of the Irish Chamber Orchestra (ICO). He has guest
led Welsh National Opera and frequently plays guest principal with
Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Hallé, and other UK orchestras.
Chamber music is integral to his ICO
activities and has led to collaborations with Jörg Widmann, Anthony
Marwood and Isabelle van Keulen. Other recent chamber highlights
include concerts at the Ryedale, City of London, Chichester and
International Donau festivals. He performed in South
America for the German Goethe Institut and has been
broadcast on German, Bavarian, Irish and South African radio.
As a member of the 'European Music Project',
he appeared in numerous theme-based all-night concert events
throughout Germany. His CD recordings include a critically
acclaimed live recording of Terry Riley’s legendary In C.
As soloist he has appeared in South Africa, Ireland, Germany and
the UK.
André teaches violin and chamber music at the
Royal Welsh College of Music in Cardiff; and at the Sage,
Gateshead. He is a regular director of Academos, based at
the University of Limerick; and has served as orchestral coach for
the Britten-Pears Orchestra and various UK university orchestras.
He annually teaches on the ConCorda Chamber Music course in
Kilkenny, Ireland.
André holds a Masters Degree from the
University of Pretoria, South Africa; and a Diploma from the
Hochschule für Musik in Cologne (Germany). He studied with
Alan Solomon, Winfried Rademacher and Charles-André Linale; had
masterclasses from Christian Altenburger, and received private
tuition from Eugene Fodor and Ana Chumachenko.