Biography:

Award-winning South African artist, Louise du Toit, is a musician, singer, composer, arranger, lyricist, actress, writer, and painter. She has played lead and supporting roles in many musical, opera and other stage productions, starting her official performing career as a child actress for PACOFS in South Africa. She obtained her degree in Drama and Theater (Performing Arts) at the University of the Free State in South Africa and her Classical Opera Diploma in Greece in 2005, as well as numerous diplomas and awards for her piano and violin studies at Unisa and the Royal College of London. She has given more than 4500 performances the past decade and has held several successful art exhibitions in Greece. Several of her songs have been released as music videos too and her music is currently being broadcast by many radio stations around the world.

Apart from her solo career as a performance artist, she is also the singer of the international group, FUEGO DE LUNAR, which came to life when she joined her musical skills and stage experience of many years with those of Athenian musician Christos Koulouridis, to form a live music group which has since blossomed in Greece and around the world. For seven months of the year they perform nightly to an audience from all walks of life, including princes and presidents; holiday seekers and happy families; well-known stage personalities, actors, musicians, singers, writers and poets; scientists, romantic grooms and brides, dancing teenagers and warm circles of close friends. Their songs, from a wide array of different cultures and countries, stretching over many decades and sung in more than 12 languages, are carefully chosen and continuously enhanced to reach out to the hearts of everyone that is open to receive inspiring messages, to relive forgotten memories and to drift away to a world that is full of lyrical vocals, soulful sounds and exciting grooves. Their own compositions with its honest lyrics interwoven into strong melodies, are romantic and ethereal, positively supporting peace and unity in the world and aiming to capture their love for life and all that it offers.

She was the singer and songwriter of AINESHANA , a new music group formed in 2008 with many talented musicians from different parts of the world. Their first CD-DVD single, 'My Heart is a Sea', with two tracks and their remixes, was successfully released in the genre of world music, receiving beautiful reviews. The title track of the single, MY HEART IS A SEA, composed by Louise du Toit, was also released as a music video, filmed by the experienced director Ioannis Vlatakis and produced by Arctos and Tree del Art. The unusual, exquisite sound of the Viola di Roda in the intro and solo parts of the song was added by the gifted Spanish musician, Efren Lopez.

Her latest music projects include her current collaboration with the three South African tenors of Prima Voce, in an operatic show titled "Sempre Libera", as well as the forming of a 10-member swing band titled "The Sha-Sha Sisters and the Dukes". In April 2010, she wrote the music and lyrics for the production of "The Vagina Dialogues" in Greece, as well as doing the music arrangements and performing the songs live on stage with the actresses.

In 2011 she wrote the script and music score of a new musical, "The Witch of Woccabocca", of which the performances in Greece in May and December 2011, in collaboration with the Ionian Conservatory of Music in Corfu, were very successful. The Greek translation was done by Panagiotis Xanthopoulos. Louise was the main director of the production, assisted by a talented team of professional artists and musicians, child actors and music students. She recently completed two new musicals, which will be staged during the next couple of years.

Louise is also very active in the field of ANIMAL DEFENSE, using her music and art to spread a worldwide message of peace and environmental and wildlife preservation, working towards the well-being of all living creatures on earth. She recently founded "UGAWEProductions", consisting of an artistic team working to create videos in defense of animals and the environment. Her work includes a list of music videos for various animals rights organizations, aimed at raising awareness about the plight of animals in their struggle for survival, as well as videos supporting the protection of the environment.

FEBRUARY 2016
A Passage to Perception

JANUARY 2016
Glorious Greece

JUNE 2015
Louise du Toit - PSA - Occupy for Animals

SEPTEMBER 2014
Indigenous Wolf Walk 2014

MAY 2014
Louise du Toit - PSA FOR TINA'S K-9 RESCUE AND ANIMAL SANCTUARY

APRIL 2014
Louise du Toit - THE PLEDGE

MAY 2013
The Cry of the Innocent - Seals of Nam and Louise du Toit

JUNE 2012
Louise du Toit - YES TO LOVE

MARCH 2012
Louise du Toit - Dear Mr President
Louise du Toit - A WORLD WITHOUT
Louise du Toit - SEALS OF NAM
Louise du Toit - ODE TO MAGNIFICENCE

FEBRUARY 2012
Louise du Toit and Karen Lyons Kalmenson - EARTH WALTZ
Louise du Toit - Gentle Giants
Louise du Toit - STOP

NOVEMBER 2011
Louise du Toit - SAVE THE CHIMPANZEES
Louise du Toit - Birds of Beautiful Feathers
Louise du Toit - SAVE THE SOUTH AFRICAN PENGUIN
Louise du Toit - JUST LOVE

OCTOBER 2011
Louise du Toit - Vivus Sectio - OPPOSING VIVISECTION
Louise du Toit - WEEAC - THE TIME HAS COME

AUGUST 2011
Louise du Toit - Howl Across America

DECEMBER 2010
Louise du Toit and Friends - Share
Louise du Toit - 40 Amazing Attributes

SEPTEMBER 2010
Louise du Toit - Save the Rhino
Louise du Toit - Pawfect Nation
Louise du Toit - Ode to the Wolves

AUGUST 2010
Louise du Toit - WE CAN SAY NO
Louise du Toit - When Darkness Falls

JULY 2010
Louise du Toit - Save the Seals
Louise du Toit - The Difference

MAY 2010
Louise du Toit - Ode to the Amur Leopard

APRIL 2010
Louise du Toit - Heart of Australia

MARCH 2010
Louise du Toit - Once