Lara Kirsten Live at MiTH

9pm – Lara Kirsten

8pm – St John & Tanya

7pm – Auburn Sound

Lara Kirsten is a pianist and performance poet (picture credit: Through my Lens; Gideon Vewas)

After completing her high school career at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg, Lara received her BMus and BMus Honours degrees (both cum laude) respectively in 2001 and 2005, at the University of Pretoria. In 1998 she received the Piano Grade 8 certificate from UNISA with distinction. In 1999 she was awarded a SAMRO bursary for undergraduate students and received the Advanced Certificate for Piano from The Royal Schools of Music. In 2002 she received her chamber music licentiate from UNISA. She was appointed junior lecturer at the University of Pretoria where she taught piano from 2003 to 2005. From the end of 2005 to 2008 she went on tour with the improvising cellist Francois le Roux over the roads of SA, Europe and the USA. For the past decade Lara has been active as both a solo and chamber musician. For the last 4 years Lara has been based in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal from where she travels with her concert tours. She also teaches piano from her home.

As performance poet: Lara balances the strict discipline of the art music with the writing and performance of her own poetry in Afrikaans and English. On occasion she combines poetry with movement, visual art, photography and music. In August 2007 she made her debut as a performance poet with the one-woman piece “Ingrid Jonker Dans Weer”. She performed her first extensive installation art and poetry piece, “Frames”, at the Fook Festival in Somerset-East in 2008. This work consisted of eight poems which were performed in eight different rooms with dialoguing installation art, costume and movement. In 2009 she made her debut in The Netherlands in the show “Op het Punt van Aanraken” (featuring music improvised by Francois le Roux, photography by Carmen Gonzalez and poems written and performed by Lara). In 2009 she was commissioned to write and perform poetry for the 60th Anniversary of the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, taking a strong view on what it is to be an Afrikaner today. MiTH is privileged and honoured to welcome Lara back for her second performance at the club.

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St John Haw, a psychologist, and Tanya Nicolson, an actress & restaurateur have both been involved in music their whole lives…

St John & Tanya are an emotive vocal – piano ensemble with jazz & blues influences.. The duo sing & play with a passion that resonates with the audience in an emotional & soulful way. Bringing vocal laid back jazz with twists to contemporary numbers, St John & Tanya display their belief that without “heart”…music is lost.

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Auburn Sound

Auburn Sound is a trio. Robyn Hunt sings lead vocal. She is a COPA trained and a closet bass player. Mark Hunt shares the vocals and plays acoustic guitar. Tristen Gwynn plays bass. He is equally at home on the acoustic and electric guitar and ukelele. We play mostly covers of popular songs from various genres. We host and play at an open mic at the Royal Natal Yacht Club every Saturday afternoon.

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MiTH is located at The Knoll Historic Guest Farm, Knoll Drive, Hilton. Doors open at 6 pm and the music will kick off at 7 pm. Entrance is R30 at the door.

ABOUT MiTH:
MiTH is a semi-open mic music club. An opportunity for musicians to share the joy of their music with a friendly audience which includes fellow musicians – who have all “been there” too. (Non-musicians welcome too!) Whether you’re a newbie looking for your first opportunity to perform publicly, or a more experienced / mature musician simply looking for people who are as passionate about music as you are – come along and join us!

Bring your own booze. Food and soft drinks are available for sale. Musicians who want to play at MiTH, please contact mithbookings@gmail.com, Charles Webster (082 331 7271), or Doug Borain (072 340 7034).

DIRECTIONS TO MiTH:
Take the N3 to Hilton, take the Hilton turnoff and go South into the Village (away from Hilton College). Travel 5,2km along Hilton Avenue (past two sets of traffic lights and Crossways Pub) and keep going straight as Hilton Avenue turns into Dennis Shepstone Drive. At the 5,2km mark, Knoll Drive will be on your right – the entrance to MiTH is the *second* entrance on your left into The Knoll Historic Guest Farm.

Visit www.mith.co.za for more details and directions.