Antoinette Olivier studied piano and singing at the University of the Witwatersrand. As an active performer she was engaged in professional performances and productions for PACT Opera, Salon Music, Brooklyn Theatre, Roodepoort Theatre and the Black Tie Ensemble. She appears on three of Salon Music’s CDs and DVD, “Celebration”. Antoinette performed the world première of Hendrik Hofmeyer’s Song Cycle for Soprano and Orchestra (1999). She is still very active as a professional singer in all major cities in South Africa in recitals and with the Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1999 she became a founder member of the Black Tie Ensemble and since 2003 became involved in their incubator development program for young singers as singing and music theory lecturer (receiving a certificate for excellence from Unisa as theory teacher). From 2003 Antoinette was a lecturer in singing at the University of Pretoria and Tshwane University of Technology. In 2009 she was a guest lecturer for UP in Finland as part of an international exchange.

Antoinette was appointed as full-time singing lecturer at North-West University in Potchefstroom in 2012 where she obtained a master’s degree in music, cum laude. She graduated in 2020 with PhD studies in visual and performing arts with music at NWU.

She is a recipient of numerous NWU research awards for creative research outputs as well as an award for teaching excellence. She has published in academic journals such as the International Journal of Education & the Arts, Koers, and South African Journal of Cultural History. In collaboration with her colleagues of the voice department at NWU School of Music, they were recently nominated by kykNet for a Fiësta award for the RSG Dis Opera production at the Aardklop and KKNK arts festivals which involved all the singing students. Furthermore, she has served as adjudicator on the Mimi Coertse voice competitions as well as on the DVD screening panel at the Unisa national and international voice competitions.

Antoinette believes in a healthy holistic development of young singers. She is a member of the international National Association of Teachers in Singing and recently presented papers at the SA NATS conferences in Stellenbosch and Port Elizabeth.

[2024-07-12]