Prof Franklin Larey

BA(Mus) STD UWC MMus Artist Diploma DMA Cincinnati LRSM LTCL

Piano

Franklin Larey appears regularly as recitalist and chamber musician at numerous venues and Arts Festivals, and as soloist with many orchestras.

In 1986 a Fulbright Scholarship took him to the University of Cincinnati where he studied with Frank Weinstock and Richard Fields. After 10 years in the USA, and with a doctorate from Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, he returned to South Africa to teach at the University of Cape Town.

Franklin Larey has won several awards, including first prize at the 1991 Young Chang International Piano Competition and third prize at the 1996 New Orleans International Piano Competition. In 1993 he established the IXOPO piano duo with South African pianist François du Toit. Hailed as a leading South African pianist of his generation, Dr. Franklin Larey is acclaimed for his performances of works by Brahms, Mozart, Scriabin and Ravel. As a scholar, Larey’s main research is in the area of Brahms studies, and specifically in the theoretical principles of developing variation and motivic unity which underpin Brahms’s compositional style. He has performed on prestigious stages, such as the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C., and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

In addition to his concert activities Dr Larey is also in demand as a speaker and has served on several boards, competition juries and councils, most notably on the Music and Opera Panel of the National Arts Council.

Today, Dr Larey serves as the director of Ball State’s School of Music and a professor of music, roles he assumed after joining the University in 2023. In 2025, he was honored by Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa, with an honorary Doctor of Music degree.