About Jacob

Jacob's music career started in a small and isolated village in rural South Africa. He studied music at the University of the Orange Free State and completed both BMus and BMus Honours degrees with distinction, developing into an exceptional pianist and accompanist during his student years. He won several awards at national music competitions and recorded a recital at the South African Broadcasting Corporation for the program "Young South Africa". He also performed with the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra and regularly performed as a soloist and accompanist with prominent South African singers in recitals all over the country.

He completed his post-graduate music studies in the United States with the help of a scholarship and studied piano under the distinguished Professor Raymond Hanson, himself a student of the globally renowned pianist and tutor Professor Harold Bauer at Hartt College and thus one of the last living connections to the era of Harold Bauer, through to Theodor Hermann Leschetizky, Sergei Tarnowsky and Walter Knaupfer – musically speaking, a clear link into the previous century.

After completing a Master's Degree with distinction from Hartt College of Music, Jacob returned to South Africa to take up a post as lecturer in piano at the University of Pretoria. During this time, he performed in numerous concerts and was invited to perform with the Performing Arts Council Symphony Orchestra during the University's Festival Celebrations and to give two recitals during the inauguration of the recital hall of the Johannesburg College of Education.

He has always been extremely successful as a specialist piano teacher and has gained extensive experience through teaching at university level as well as working for many years with children from the Centre for Gifted Children at the Technicon Natal where he was head of the piano department.

One of Jacob's most gifted students, Jeremy Joseph, excelled during those years and won top prizes in piano competitions at national level and later established himself as a leading figure at an internationally acclaimed conservatoire in Europe from where he is regularly invited to conduct music seminars and masterclasses all over the world on his now preferred instruments, the harpsichord and organ.

Jacob was tutored by one of the most prominent piano teachers at the Julliard School of Music in New York while preparing for an international piano competition.

He has attended several music seminars presented by distinguished artists like Claude Coppens and Marie-Claire Alain, as well as master classes with world famous pianists like Vlado Perlemuter at the renowned Dartington Music Summer School.

Jacob began his private music studio, Jacob's Music Room, in 2011 and his students are excelling in music festivals all around Kent and especially in the ABRSM and Rockschool music exams.