Nicola du Toit

Nicola is a product designer and a musician. She plays cello and piano, and is a founding member of the Night Light Collective, Goldfox duo, and the Betwixt Music series. Her current musical interests include found sound, improvisational and experimental composition and performance, and extended cello techniques with electronics. 

Nicola has a B.Mus. in Performance and an M.Phil. in IT (specialising in Human-Computer Interaction), from the University of Cape Town. She also has a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music in Performance (ABRSM).

As a cellist and chamber musician Nicola has had masterclasses with musicians including Maria Kliegel, Lynn Harrell, Marian Lewin, Farida Bacharova and Jill Richards. She has extensive experience as an orchestral player in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and is a former member of the South African National Youth Orchestra and the Britten-Pears Orchestra (UK). She collaborates regularly as a performer and composer with South African musicians including Galina Juritz, Matthijs van Dijk and Cara Stacey. 

As a product designer her career includes educational technology, open source and traditional publishing, front-end development, project management, design training, e-commerce and fintech experience. She is a published author and has presented talks and workshops at tech conferences in South Africa and abroad. 

Nicola strongly believes that human-centred, participatory design makes the world a better place. She applies this design philosophy (along with her start-up and corporate experience) to her work as both a designer and a musician. 

Links

Websites: nicoladutoit.com | nightlightcollective.co.za | betwixtmusic.co.za

Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/nicoladt