University of Cape Town (UCT) student, Andrée van Zyl, an aspiring pharmacokineticist, is the only oboist to contest the 2025 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC).

The 18-year-old student will join the three saxophonists and a flautist in the competition's woodwind category.

"Playing in this competition is something I wanted to do since starting the oboe in 2020. It is a way for me to stay connected to music, as I am studying something completely unattached to the musical world," says Andrée, who studies a BSc in chemistry and human anatomy and physiology.

A pharmacokineticist is a scientist specialising in pharmacokinetics, the study of how drugs are absorbed, distributed, metabolised, and excreted (ADME) by the body. ADME is the acronym for absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion.

Residing in Gardens in Cape Town, she started to play the piano at the age of seven. Her first teacher was Helicia Groenewald at Jan van Riebeeck Primary School. She was the school's choir director.

Currently, she is tutored by Carin Bam of the South African College of Music at UCT. Carin is also associate principal oboe and principal cor anglais with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO).

According to Andrée, she occasionally plays the piano and cor anglais, but her focus is on the oboe. "I am biased toward the oboe, but I do think there are some incredible pieces composed for the piano."

The rising star's role model is her friend, Jan-Stefan van der Walt, a pharmacokineticist and double bassist. "I truly admire him and the way he is passionate about everything he does and being able to mix music with his everyday life," he says.

Currently, Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff is his favourite composer. "I love his full orchestration and his incredible solos for each instrument. He tells an amazing story with each piece of music. You are never bored when listening to Rachmaninoff," she states.

Music runs thick in the young musician's family. Her father played the French horn, and her mother the oboe. "They actually met in orchestra at university." Andree has a little brother who is a fantastic singer and currently studying at the Waterfront Theatre School.

She says she is practising one to two hours per day. Andrée enjoys crocheting, reading and spending time with her friends in her free time.

Should she be able to be an animal, the oboist wants to be a cat. "I would be able to sleep for 18 hours a day and get away with everything I do," she chuckles.

When she finishes university, she would like to develop new medications.

She describes herself as melodramatic, and her life motto is: "A world without string is chaos."