Musical Memories - Anton Nel

Anton Nel, a Johannesburg native, debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto and captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions. While still in his teens, he toured his native country extensively and became a well-known radio and television personality. A student of Adolph Hallis, he made his European debut in France in 1982, and in the same year graduated with the highest distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He came to the United States in 1983, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. In addition to garnering many awards from his alma mater during this three-year period, he was a prizewinner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and won several first prizes at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert in 1986. Anton won first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall and continues to enjoy a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa.

Highlights of Mr. Nel’s four decades of concertizing include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphonies of Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, and London, among many others. (He has an active repertoire of more than 100 works for piano and orchestra.) An acclaimed Beethoven interpreter, Anton Nel has performed the concerto cycle several times, most notably on two consecutive evenings with the Cape Philharmonic in 2005. Additionally, he has performed all-Beethoven solo recitals, complete cycles of the violin and cello works, and most recently a highly successful run of the Diabelli Variations as part of Moises Kaufman’s play 33 Variations.

Anton Nel is the Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents  Professor of Piano and Chamber music at The University of Texas at Austin - Butler School of Music, where he teaches an international class of students and heads the Division of Keyboard Studies.