Dr. Avril Kinsey

Dr.  Avril Kinsey was born in the UK, and lived much of her life in South Africa.  She is an award winning, internationally acclaimed concert guitarist, teacher and composer. She received master classes from many of the world's leading guitarists, including Christopher Parkening and Carlos Bonell, and obtained her Masters in Music (cum laude). She  was awarded a prestigious Doctor of Music degree in Composition.  In addition to guitar Avril loves teaching piano, composition and theory of music.  She also supervises students in their Trinity College of London,  ATCL  and LTCL Music Teaching qualifications. She has been a music educator for the past 35 years. She founded the  successful Cape Town Academy of Music,  the Avril Kinsey Classical Guitar Competition, and the unique Guitar Orchestra Retreat (GOR). The retreat is scheduled to take place in July, 2021 in the UK and prospective students on lessonface may also be able to join that event, if lessonface permits.  

Over a thousand performances of her African-inspired compositions for classical guitar have been performed world-wide to critical acclaim. “Ingenious, evocative, (…) a master musician of unusual ability.” Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine (UK).  Avril also offers international pre-degree diploma courses (MA Dip.) with practical musicianship, entrepreneurship, songwriting and music education streams. These have helped many students to bridge the gap between school music, university and pursuing a professional music career.  She has also given guitar talks and master classes at the Royal Academy of Music (UK), Trinity College of Music London, the Antigoni Goni Volterra Project in Italy, Hermoupolis Guitar Festival (Greece), Mannes School of Music and Julliard in New York,  amongst others.

Avril has several articles published in journals such as Soundboard (USA) and Classical Guitar Magazine (former UK, now USA), and has authored and composed three music books.  Her most well known and internationally acclaimed being Guitar Music From Africa, published by Art Music and Ashley Mark publishing. She undertook a prolific performing career, concertizing in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Singapore, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Scotland, Greece and South Africa.  She has been awarded several prestigious awards for her work in research and music education, including a life-time achievement Astris award. 

My first four year diploma was in teaching (Teachers Licentiate Diploma in Music, TLDM) and music education has always been my primary passion. I believe in first growing the student's love of music through developing their skills, musicianship and artistry. So my teaching style is pupil centered, friendly and warm, yet focussed and goal orientated.  My motto is to care for the student as a whole, while helping them achieve their goals. I enjoy putting students through exam work, but I also believe in balancing this with creativity and spontaneity. Theory of music, aural and improvisation are all important to my teaching.  So I adopt a holistic approach  to my students and as a result I have had many students for many years. 

I highly recommend classical guitar lessons with Avril Kinsey. Her depth of knowledge and ability to inspire emotion, passion and artistry is profound. She is also adept at providing a framework for important fundamentals of technique. An amazing person and teacher to have in your life.

Andreas Van Wyk.

Dr. Kinsey is an outstanding teacher with a passion for music, which has inspired me, and which has greatly increased my knowledge and love of music. My favourite part of the MA Diploma was business and entrepreneurship, as it has taught me so much about what is possible in terms of business and music, and has made me very excited for my future in music. Daniel Grant