Johan Botes, D.M.A

About Johan

Johan Botes is known for his extraordinary versatility as a soloist, collaborative musician, and teacher; a career which has brought him recognition in concerts around the world.

A native of South Africa, Botes showed musical promise from an early age. Among many notable awards in his native country, he was the 2007 First Prize Winner of the Third UNISA/Vodacom National Piano Competition playing Rachmaninoff’s technically demanding Third Piano Concerto to a standing ovation; a performance for which he also won the Desmond Willson Memorial Prize for best concerto in the final round. Most recently, he was chosen as second Prizewinner in the National American Prize non-profit competition for the performing arts in both the solo and concerto divisions.

As a soloist, Botes has performed in venues worldwide. He has appeared as soloist with the Juneau Symphony in Alaska, Bainbridge Symphony in Seattle, Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, as well as the Texas Chamber Orchestra at University of Texas Austin. He also performed in Prague with the Hadrec Kralove Orchestra. In 2005, he toured to Bulgaria, where he played with the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra in Varna.

Dr. Botes holds a D.M.A. in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.M. from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He received another M.M. as well as his B.M. from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is currently an Associate Professor of Piano at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.