Claire Röntsch (neè de Kock) is a saxophonist, session musician, composer, arranger, music lecturer and educator. She graduated with a BMus in Jazz Performance at the South African College of Music (SACM) in 2014 with distinction and has recently received her Masters degree in Jazz Composition from SACM under the tutelage of renowned local composers Professor Mike Campbell and Professor Amanda Tiffin. 

In 2015, Claire won the Fine Music Radio Jazz Performance competition and has performed internationally in Europe and locally at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. She is currently performing with The Swing Collective, The Lady Day Big Band and her own progressive jazz quartet (who perform her own compositions).

Claire has recently been appointed as co-conductor and music arranger for the Free State Youth Wind Ensemble at the Odeion School of Music.

Conference Presentations:

de Kock, Claire. Recontextualising Mseleku: Exploring big band arranging techniques in South African Jazz" at "The Twelfth Annual Conference for the South African Society for Research in Music", University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, South Africa, 29 August - 1 September 2018.

Masters Dissertation:

Cycles: Exploring the intertextual relationships between Bheki Mseleku, Bokani Dyer and Thandi Ntuli (2022)

• Jazz Theory and Analysis
• Jazz Pedagogy
• Jazz History 
• Jazz Improvisation
• Saxophone Performance
• Ensemble
• Arrangement and Composition

Co-conductor and arranger for FSYWE