South African-born pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers has been hailed as “a pianistic poet”, garnering rave reviews for her color-rich and imaginative performances.
In high demand as a collaborator, Ms. Cilliers has performed at such prestigious venues as The Ravinia Festival, the Irving S. Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, the Cuvilliés Theater in Munich, and the Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has collaborated closely with prominent conductors including Antonino Fogliani, Pierre Bleuse, Peter Rundel, Alberto Zedda and Cornelius Meister, and directors Peter Sellars, David Alden, Peter Konwitchny, Calixto Bieito and Claus Guth. She is a regular recital partner of mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis and countertenor John Holiday, with whom she performed on the renowned NPR Tiny Desk series. The creative force behind the Songs of Comfort YouTube series, Ms. Cilliers champions the works of under-represented female composers Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.
Fostering a strong interest in new music, Ms. Cilliers has presented several scores in world and North American/European premieres. As Head of Music, she assisted conductor Titus Engel at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and IRCAM Paris in the widely acclaimed world premiere of Chaya Czernowin’s opera Infinite Now. A trusted musical partner of Catalán composer Héctor Parra, she has worked on two world premiere scores: the operatic adaptation of the controversial novel Les Bienveillantes (Antwerp/Ghent), as well as Orgia (Bilbao). In Les Bienveillantes, staged by opera’s most provocative director Calixto Bieto, Ms. Cilliers also performed the 10 minute on-stage piano solo on a flying piano. Her 2024 season includes opera productions at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) and LA Opera. Ms. Cilliers has been on the music staff of the Glimmerglass Opera Festival, Santa Fe Opera, LA Opera, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra de Lyon, Arriaga Theatre and Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona).
As an educator, Ms. Cilliers has spearheaded the new Collaborative Piano program at The Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, while additionally serving as Head of Music for the voice department. At the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, she has been Associate Head of Collaborative Pianists while also functioning as faculty member. Along with her husband, tenor/producer Andrew Richards, she recently co-founded Kudu Productions. The team focuses on innovative and genre-bending video/sound projects created in their Inwood studio in Upper Manhattan.
She holds piano performance degrees from the University of Michigan and Indiana University, as well as an Artist Diploma in collaborative piano from the Manhattan School of Music.