Avril Kinsey

Dr Avril Kinsey is a commissioned composer and award winning internationally acclaimed concert guitarist. She received her Masters in Music (cum laude) and in 2018 was awarded a Doctor of Music degree in Composition for her portfolio of orchestral and chamber scores. Kinsey is founding director of the Cape Town Academy of Music, the Cape Town International Guitar Festival and the Guitar Orchestra Retreat. Over a thousand performances of her African-inspired compositions for classical guitar have been performed world-wide to critical acclaim. “Ingenious, evocative, (…) a master musician of unusual ability.” Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine (UK). Her orchestral works have been performed by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra.

Kinsey lectures at the Cape Town Academy of Music in guitar (classical), piano, as well as theory, composition, and music business and entrepreneurship. Her international pre-degree certificate courses with practical musicianship, entrepreneurship, songwriting and music education streams have helped students bridge the gap between school music, university and pursuing a professional music career. She has given guitar talks and master classes at the Royal Academy of Music (UK), Trinity College of Music London, Volterra Project (Italy), Hermoupolis Guitar Festival (Greece), Mannes School of Music and Julliard in New York.

Kinsey is a researcher and published author. She won the WGSA Muse Best Screenwriter award in 2020 for her feature film screenplay, The Wild Coast. She has articles published in journals such as Soundboard (USA) and Classical Guitar Magazine (former UK, now USA), and has authored and composed three music books. Guitar Music From Africa, published by Art Music and Ashley Mark publishing is her most well known.  She undertook a prolific performing career, concertising in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Singapore, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Scotland, Greece and South Africa. Her guitar compositions are published by Art Music. She was awarded several prestigious awards for her work in research and music education, including a life-time achievement Astris award. She loves to collaborate on creative works and bring inspiring stories and music to life.

Links

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQy__3K5jq5i-5sX_2SXuTQ