Suzanne Martens

Suzanne Martens studied violin at the University of Pretoria under Prof. Alan Solomon, where she obtained BMus and BMus Hons degrees. She furthered her studies in The Netherlands under Jan Repko (Academie Minerva, Groningen) and in Austria under Lavard Skou-Larsen (Mozarteum, Salzburg). She subsequently obtained a Masters Degree in Chamber Music from the University of Stellenbosch and a Doctorate in Performing Arts from the University of Pretoria. As a student, Suzanne was the winner of several competitions and prizes. Until June 2000, she was associate concertmaster in the now defunct New Arts Philharmonic Orchestra Pretoria and was a founder member of the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. In June 2001, she was appointed concertmaster of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, a position she resigned from to take up a lecturing post at the University of Stellenbosch. Suzanne has been appearing as guest leader of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra since 2005. She is an active chamber musician, and particularly enjoys playing in string quartet and piano trio formation. Suzanne serves on the faculty of the annual Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival and appeared in Portugal in a similar capacity in 2008 and 2009. In 2016 she served on the faculty of the annual Summer Music Institute at the University of New Mexico, USA. In 2018 she served on the faculty of the annual Lipizer international violin competition in Gorizia, Italy.She premièred the violin concertos of South African composer, Allan Stephenson, Thomas Rajna and David Earl (double violin concerto). She is currently Senior Lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch. Suzanne is married to cellist Peter Martens and they have two daughters.