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Kyle Shepherd is one of South Africa’s leading pianists, film and theatre music composers of his generation. Internationally recognized for his distinctive compositional style and performances, Shepherd has released 7 jazz albums and a number of film, TV and theatre scores to date including: Blood and Water Season 2 (Netflix) , Savage Beauty Season 1 (Netflix), Surviving Paradise (as additional music composer (Netflix)), William Kentridge’s Waiting for the Sibyl, Indemnity, Barakat (South Africa’s Official entry into the Academy Awards 2022) ,The life and Times of Michael K (Handspring puppet company theatre production based on the Nobel prize winning Novel by J.M Coetzee), Fiela se Kind (Silwerskerm award for best score), Vlugtig and Noem My Skollie (Call Me Thief), South Africa’s official entry to the 2017 Academy Awards. He was awarded the 2018 South African Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Award: Book, Creative Collection and Digital Contribution 2018, hosted by the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), for Best Musical Composition for his composition, Noem My Skollie.  Kyle was awarded the 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist Award and featured in Season 3 of “South africa’s 21 Icons, The UNISA Piano award 2015 and Best score at Silwerskerm Film Festival for his score to Fiela se Kind.

 

In his 17 year career, the 34-year-old virtuoso pianist has a well-established record of celebrated performances in 26 countries around the world including: South Africa, Europe, Asia (including Japan, India and China), Canada and the USA. Kyle is also the co-creator of the hit Afrikaans TV series Koortjies met Jonathan Rubain and holds a master’s degree (Cum Laude) in Music from Stellenbosch University after receiving a scholarship from York University (UK) in collaboration with the Africa Open Institute (Stellenbosch University).

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Notable Performances:

Apart from South Africa, Shepherd has also performed in Japan, USA, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, France, Denmark, India, Malaysia, China, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe, with notable concert appearances, either as a solo pianist or trio, quartet and other formats at Carnegie Hall (USA), Klavierhaus (USA), 2016 SWR NEWJazz Meeting (Germany) at Alte Feuerwache (Mannheim), Sudhaus (Tübingen), Tollhaus (Karlsruhe), The Bird’s Eye Jazz Club (Switzerland), La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), Jazzwerkstatt Festival Bern (Switzerland), Reformierte Dorfkirche Kleinhüningen (Switzerland), Klubschule St. Gallen (Switzerland), BeFlat Jazz Club (Germany), Der Sendesaal, (Germany), Hallenbad Kultur Am Schactweg, (Germany), The Tokyo Jazz Festival (Japan), Garaman Hall (Japan), Body & Soul Jazz Club (Japan), Shikiori (Japan), Kaho Gekijo Kabuki Theatre (Japan), Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord and L’Onde Théâtre et Centre d’art as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris (France), The Aarhus Jazz Festival (Denmark), The Cape Town International Jazz Festival (South Africa), The Joy of Jazz Festival (South Africa), The National Arts Festival, Grahamstown (South Africa), The Gaborone International Music and Culture Week Festival (Botswana), The Orbit Jazz Club (South Africa), The Wits Great Hall (South Africa), CCFM – The Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano (Mozambique), The Mahikeng Jazz Festival (South Africa), Harare International Festival – HIFA (Zimbabwe),The Tianjin International Jazz Festival (China), No Black Tie (Malaysia), MICA (India), B-Flat (India), The Gonsalves Mansion ‘Home of Jazz’ (India) and Canada’s Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Victoria International Jazz Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival & Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

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