Liezl-Marét Jacobs

Liezl-Marét has established herself as musician in several fields over the past 25 years. She is known as a chamber musician and accompanist, is a presenter of workshops on a variety of piano pedagogy topics and has given master classes to pianists from elementary to advanced levels. Her students are often prize-winners at festivals and competitions in South Africa and Ireland.

She obtained her BMus, BMus (Hon) and MMus degrees cum laude under the guidance of Philip Levy, Catharina Struthers, and Albie van Schalkwyk at the University of Stellenbosch (1991 – 1994) and the University of Cape Town (1995 – 1997). In 2003, she also obtained a Doctorate in Music (Performance) from the University of Cape Town under the guidance of John Antoniades and Hendrik Hofmeyr. As a student she received master classes from Anton Nel, Martino Tirimo, Vladimir Viardo, Melvyn Tan, Graham Fitch and Graham Johnson.

Liezl-Marét started her teaching career at the University of Cape Town in 1996 and was a piano lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch from 2002 till 2004. As Head of Keyboard Studies, she lectured full-time at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban from 2005 till 2013. Since 2002, Liezl-Maret is often invited to adjudicate at eisteddfods and at music competitions. She was an examiner for UNISA (University of South Africa) music examinations between 2005 to 2016 and was part of a team compiling the UNISA Piano Examinations’ syllabi in 2016. She makes regular appearances as a speaker at conferences, workshops, and symposiums. She has been on the faculty of the International Piano Symposium at the University of Stellenbosch from 2004 to 2016.

From January 2014 to March 2019, Liezl-Maret was running a private studio in Durban (South Africa), teaching piano to students of all ages. She focused on experimenting and developing innovative ideas in connection with teaching methods. After years of teaching Piano and Instrumental Pedagogy at the various universities, she in collaboration with the ATKV (Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging), started to present Instrumental Music Teacher workshops across South Africa. Liezl-Maret also frequently visited the USA to expand her pedagogical knowledge and to learn as much as possible in the field of piano playing and pedagogy. It is her passion to share newly gained knowledge with piano teachers.

Between 2005 and 2019, Liezl-Maret has been involved in the organisation of various workshops, concerts and innovative music educational projects such as ‘Rhythm and Sight Singing Courses’, ‘An in-depth discussion and demonstration of the Fabers’ Piano Adventures’, and ‘Music Reading Skills for Pianists’, in South Africa. She published two workbooks in 2018, an outcome of the Music Reading Skills for Pianists Workshops.

Liezl-Marét moved to Ireland at the beginning of 2019. She is on the faculty of the Crescendo Summer Institute in Hungary as collaborative pianist since 2019. She is running a private piano studio in Dublin, is teaching part-time at the Technological University of Dublin’s Conservatoire and serves on the Examiner’s Panel of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She is actively involved as a member of EPTA Ireland. She was guest speaker at the Annual General Meeting of EPTA Ireland in October 2019. In 2021 she presented an online workshop – ‘Purposeful Teaching and Purposeful Learning’ – as part of TuDublin’s International Progressive Piano Teacher’s series. She presented an in-depth workshop – ‘The Piano Teacher’ – to the faculty of The Piano Academy of Ireland at the end of 2021.