Pianist Lukas de Villiers says he entered the 2026 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) as “it is one of the most important youth competitions in the country; I wanted to see if I could make it, and it also helps me focus on developing my repertoire.”
The 18-year-old rising star from Wellington in the Western Cape is a matriculant at Paarl Gimnasium. This year is his first introduction to the annual competition. He knows fellow contestant AJ Nel, who is also from Wellington, as well as Damian Philander.
He believes that the NYMC will help him to gain performance experience.
Lukas occasionally plays the electric guitar, bass and synthesiser with his father, who plays in an alternative folk-rock band. According to him, the piano is his favourite musical instrument.
He started his musical journey at the age of seven, playing the piano. His first music teacher was Ester Horn in Paarl. Currently, his music teacher is Hadley Duminy at the Frank Pietersen Music Centre in Paarl.
Last year’s NYMC bronze medallist, marimba player Kyrah Adams, is an alumnus of the music centre.
Pianists Arturo Benedetti Michelagneli and Vladimir Ashkenazy are his musical role models. “I really admire their work ethic,” he says.
The amount of time for his daily practising sessions varies, but the average time rounds out to around two and a half hours per day. Other than music, he likes to read and play chess.
The talented musician says Russian composer Alexander Scriabin and Austrian composer Gustav Mahler are his favourite composers. “Scriabin speaks to me because of his uniquely addictive use of harmony, and I love Mahler because of his beautiful and incredibly earnest orchestral writing,” he explains.
He describes himself as enthusiastic, adding that he doesn’t have a particular motto in life.
Lukas plans to study music at Stellenbosch University next year, but he doesn’t know in what field he will end up. “I would be happy as a performer, composer or conductor,” he smiles.
If he could be an inanimate object, the emerging star would love to be a book, “preferably a book worth reading. Books are beautiful and make the world a better place,” he concludes.