About Music Theory Online
Music Theory Online is an academy specializing in giving you theory lessons anywhere in South Africa in the comfort of your own home. Music Theory Online’s husband-and-wife team is music specialist, Dr. Isabelle van Rensburg and web administrator, Johan Deysel.
Isabelle has a passion for teaching music and especially music theory. She wrote all of her UNISA theory examinations up to Grade 6 while still in school. Isabelle thus realizes the amount of self-discipline and extra time that needs to be managed together with school work and your one (or maybe two) practical instruments. She has more than 15 years of experience teaching music theory Grade 1-6. She has been entering students for the ABRSM and UNISA Music Theory examination, yearly. In 2019 and 2020 she received a merit award from UNISA for the exceptional results of her music theory students.
About our Founder
Isabelle van Rensburg was born in 1985 in Klerksdorp, South Africa. From 2004 she received organ tuition from Professor Wim Viljoen and obtained the degrees Bachelor of Music Performance in 2007, Master of Music in Performing Art (cum laude) in 2012 and Doctor of Music in Performing Art in 2021 from the University of Pretoria (UP). In her research, she focused on the compositions of the South-African born Canadian composer, Jacobus Kloppers. She also completed a Performance Licentiate in Music (Organ) in 2008 and a Teacher’s Licentiate in Music (Piano) in 2009 at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Isabelle was the receiver of numerous bursaries throughout her career, among others, the Stephanus Zondagh Organ Scholarship from UNISA and the Doctoral bursary from the Southern African Church and Concert Organists Society (SAKOV).
Internationally, Isabelle has performed in Haarlem, (Netherlands) and Eugene (United States) as part of the Haarlem International Organ Festival and the Bach Oregon Festival respectively. Her organ tuition include masterclasses with internationally renowned organists Ben van Oosten, Gordon Stewart, Leo van Doeselaar, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Olivier Penin, Olivier Latry, Reitze Smits, Paul Jacobs, William Whitehead and Wolfgang Zerer.
Isabelle was the first prize winner of national competitions which include the ATKV Muziq Competition and the UNISA Music Scholarship Competition in 2005. Most recently, she was selected as one of eighteen organists to participate in the second Boston Bach International Competition which was held in September 2022.
Isabelle operates her own organ and music theory academy, serves on the executive board of SAKOV as the vice-chairman and is the organist at the Dutch Reformed Church Universiteitsoord in Pretoria.
