Johannesburg-born André Swanepoel enjoys a diverse musical life as a chamber musician, orchestral player and teacher.
Chamber Music is integral to his activities as Principal Second Violin of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and has resulted in performances at international venues such as the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress in Washington DC, the Bozar in Brussels, and the Tonhalle in Zurich.
Other chamber music highlights include recent concerts at the Killkenny Arts Festival and 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 West 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.
He has guest lead Welsh National Opera and frequently plays guest Principal with Royal Northern Sinfonia and other UK orchestras.
André teaches at the Royal Welsh College of Music in Cardiff and at the University of Limerick. He annually teaches on the ConCorda Chamber Music course in Ireland, and the Xenia Chamber Music course in the Italian Alps.
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.