Chad Groepies

Chad Groepies joined the CPO in January 2025.  He was principal trumpet of the CPYO from 2016 (when he joined)  to  2024, having already played in Christmas Choirs from the age of seven, studies at Beau Soleil Music Centre while at high school and where he attained distinctions in theory and trumpet from the ABRSM and graduated from UCT with a BMus and distinction in ensemble in 2024,

Chad has been a student of the CPO’s principal trumpet David Thompson and while at UCT was principal trumpet in both the UCT Wind Ensemble and the UCT Symphony Orchestra.

In 2022, Chad distinguished himself as a member of the Coastal Brass Collective, a brass quintet that won the Stellenbosch University National Ensemble Competition.  He has participated several times in the Stellenbosch International Music Festivals and was principal trumpet in 2022 and 2023. During these festivals, he benefited from masterclasses with Weston Sprott, Marco Silva, and Mark Hampson.

In 2024 he was selected as one of four CPYO musicians to attend the course of the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie and performed in several concerts in Germany.

He has also played as an ad hoc musician with the Free State Symphony Orchestra (FSSO), KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Town Festival Orchestra and of course the Cape Philharmonic, from 2021.