US Music

The Stellenbosch University Jazz Band held a Legacy Celebration Concert on 11 May to celebrate two heroic South African icons – Nelson Mandela and Hugh Masekela – as part of the institution’s centennial celebrations. The Fiesta Award winning SU Jazz Band, one of the ensembles of the Music Department’s Certificate Programme, took centre stage under the direction of Felicia Lesch with esteemed vocal soloists Sima Mashazi, Babalwa Mentjies and Mynhardt Kruger.

The evening was specifically dedicated to launching the new Social Impact initiative of the Music Department under it’s new umbrella name Roots@SU. Roots@SU encompasses a network of programmes and projects that the Music Department is involved with through the Certificate Programmes, Rural Engagement Programme, Service Learning Programme, Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, Endler Concert Series and many off-site partnership programmes. Special guests for the concert included SU Music Department community partners from areas such as Mitchell’s Plain, Athlone, Kuilsriver, Khayelitsha, Ceres, Mamre and Cloetesville. One of the highlights of the evening was when some of the learners from these community projects joined the SU Jazz Band on stage to perform Abdullah Ibrahim’s Nelson Mandela. Impressively, the kids stood up to take solos, much to the delight of the audience.

The evening also served as the launch event of the partnership between Stellenbosch University Music Department and the e’Bosch Heritage Project. Representatives from e’Bosch attended from the communities of Cloetesville, Idas Valley, Jamestown, Khayamandi, Klapmuts, Pniel, Kylemore, Raithby, Vlottenburg and Stellenbosch Central as well as music teachers and school principals from these communities.

Many of the songs performed were either composed by Masekela, such as Grazin in the grass and Thuma Mina (Send me) or powerful struggle songs such as Mayibuye. As the evening came to an end, the audience collectively danced to the well-known struggle song, Meadowlands as a tribute to Masekela, Mandela and all who wish to play a part in building a society of our dreams.

A group of nine talented young South African pianists will participate in the 2018 Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition, starting on Monday 12 March. Presented as part of the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium, the competition is one of the most prestigious platforms in the country for young pianists.

The biennial competition, presented at the Stellenbosch University (SU) Konservatorium, was started in 1984 with Virginia Fortesque, Bennie van Eeden and Cecilia Lourens as judges, and many of the finalists have gone on to become well-known musicians. Recent former winners include Louis Nel (2016), Roelof Temmingh (2014) and Sulayman Human (2012).

This year, nine finalists have been selected as competition participants. The initial rounds will be held on Monday 12 March and Tuesday 13 March. Thereafter the judges will select five pianists to compete in the finals on Friday 16 March. Each of these five finalists will perform a movement from a piano concerto with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Corvin Matei.

The nine 2018 finalists are Qden Blaauw (13) from Durbanville, Beate Boshoff (16) from Bethlehem, Daniel Brodie (18) from East London, Leo Huan (14) from Pretoria, Gerhard Joubert (17) from Stellenbosch, Andrew Raney (16) from Johannesburg, Milano Reynecke (15) from Pretoria, Mike Wang (11) from Cape Town, and Simon Wu (17) from Cape Town.

Louis Nel (17), the most recent winner, says receiving the first prize in 2016 was a great moment in his life. “I was quite surprised because, at 15-years-old, I thought that I was too young and inexperienced for the competition. Many of the competitors had the experience of participating in previous years, and you never know how well they have progressed.”

For Louis, who hails from Pretoria, the most enjoyable part of the competition was preparing his concerto for the finals with the Stellenbosch University Symphony Orchestra. “It was also great to get to know the other competitors. Also, I learned such a lot from the master classes that was presented by the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium.”

As part of his prize, Louis gave a piano recital in Wellington. “This was very special for me. The competition has taught me that you should never underestimate yourself, and it helped me to improve my standard of playing and to be more at ease on stage,” says Louis.

He won a total of R22 000 in prize money, as well as three recital engagements.

First held in 2006, the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium will run from 14 to 18 March at the SU Konservatorium, following the Hennie Joubert Competition. It brings together teachers, performers and students for a programme consisting of recitals, master classes and lectures. This year, three internationally acclaimed pianists – South African Jan Hugo, Israeli Aviram Reichert and the Russian-born German Jura Margulis – will be the guest artists of the Symposium.

The three pianists will each give a recital in the Konservatorium’s Endler Hall. Hugo will perform music by Beethoven, Debussy and Liszt on Wednesday 14 March; Reichert will play works by Brahms and Schubert on Thursday 15 March; and Margulis performs a programme of works by Scarlatti, Tchaikovsky and Rachminoff on Saturday 17 March.

• Concert tickets are available from Computicket. Symposium passes can be purchased on the Symposium website, pianosymposium.co.za. The full Symposium programme is also available on the website, or call 021 808 2358 for more information.

Three acclaimed pianists will be the guest artists at the seventh Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium, which will be held from Monday 12 March to Sunday 20 March 2018. The biennial Symposium, presented by Stellenbosch University (SU) at the Konservatorium, has as its goal to promote piano teaching and performance.

The Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium, first held in 2006, provides teachers, performers and students with a platform for performance, education and the sharing of knowledge. The weeklong programme consists of recitals and master classes, a series of lectures, as well as a national piano competition.

This year, guest artists South African Jan Hugo, Israeli Aviram Reichert and the Russian-born German Jura Margulis will each give a piano recital during the Symposium. Reichert and Margulis will also present master classes at the Symposium.

Born in 1991, Hugo studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig, Germany, as well as in Italy. Most recently, in 2017, he was a semi-finalist in the Liszt International Piano Competition in Utrecht. For his Symposium recital on Wednesday 14 March, Hugo will perform works by, among others, Beethoven, Debussy and Liszt.

Reichert, praised for his intelligent interpretations, technique and tone, have won several major competitions in the Far East, France and Germany. He is a frequent soloist with the leading orchestras in his native Israel. On Thursday 17 March, Reichert gives a recital that includes works by Brahms and Schubert.

The final recital on Saturday 19 March will see Margulis performing a programme of works by Scarlatti, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. Margulis has been internationally recognised for his compellingly communicative and emotional performances, as well as for the range of his tonal palette and his consummate virtuosity.

On the last evening of the Symposium, the popular Piano Extravaganza will be held, in which ten pianos and ten pianists will be on the Endler Hall’s stage.

“We are looking forward to a great 2018 Symposium. Lovers of piano music will get to hear great artists in our three special recitals, while piano teachers and students can learn and share knowledge in an environment where we all have the same passion,” says acclaimed pianist and SU piano lecturer, Prof Nina Schumann.

This year, about 50 piano students, ranging between the ages of 11 and 28, will attend the Symposium, as well as approximately 50 observers from across South Africa. Some of the student participants also perform in lunch-hour concerts.

The Symposium also presents the biennial Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition. This competition was started in 1984 with Virginia Fortesque, Bennie van Eeden and Cecilia Lourens as judges. Some of South Africa’s foremost pianists count among the finalists.

Recent former winners include Louis Nel (2016), Roelof Temmingh (2014), Sulayman Human (2012), and Dr Grethe Nöthling (2000), who will present a lecture at this year’s Symposium.

On the first two days of the Symposium, 12 and 13 March, competition participants will compete for the five finalist positions. These five pianists will then perform in the finals on Friday 18 March with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Corvin Matei. Each of the finalists will play a movement from a piano concerto.

• Concert tickets are available from Computicket. Symposium passes can be purchased on the Symposium website, pianosymposium.co.za. The full Symposium programme is also available on the website, or call 021 808 2358 for more information.

The festival Out of the Shadows: Rediscovering Jewish Music and Theatre that utilized numerous performance venues in Cape Town and Stellenbosch from 10 to 17 September this year was by all accounts a tremendous success. The festival was the finale in a series of festivals that took place in Leeds & York (UK), Wisconsin-Madison (USA), Prague, Pilsen & Terezin (Czech Republic) and Sydney (Australia). All performances were in some way or another outcomes of the project Performing the Jewish Archive (PtJA), sponsored by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. Included in the project’s 25 international partner organizations were the Cape Town Holocaust Centre, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, UCT and Stellenbosch University. Stellenbosch University’s participation affirms the excellent international reputation that this institution enjoys through its Music and Drama Departments.

The project seeks to rediscover lost or forgotten performance-related artefacts from the Jewish ghettos and camps of World War II, many of which were melting pots of artistic creativity. Plays, texts, scripts and music manuscripts came to light, and we saw a number of gems being given their world premieres right here on our stages. Altogether Stellenbosch and Cape Town hosted 14 performances including 11 world premieres at 9 different venues.

Both Sydney and Stellenbosch were entrusted with a touching comedy, Prinz Bettliegend, which was reconstructed following the discovery of the musical numbers and the gathering of Holocaust survivor witness testimonies by PtJA researcher Dr Lisa Peschel. Both performances (Stellenbosch and Cape Town) were sold out and the SU drama students under the direction of Amelda Brand brought tears to, and drew rapturous applause from, the distinguished PtJA team and audience alike. SU staff member, Leonore Bredekamp who has one foot in the Drama Department and another in the Music Department was musical director and bass guitarist for this production. The band, facilitated by the Music Department’s director of Certificate Programmes, Felicia Lesch, included SU students Throy Petersen (piano), Kristi Boonzaaier (clarinet), Bradley Martin (violin), Esra Januarie (drumkit) and US Alumnus Leon Oosthuizen (accordion).

An exhibition of our own Jewish Archive set up in part in our Music Library and in part in the Behrens Foyer was prepared by Santie de Jongh. This exhibition complemented an impressive and deeply moving pop up exhibition from Leeds University that travelled to the various performance venues. The immense amount of scholarly research that went hand in hand with the creative work was also highlighted at a colloquium in the Jannasch Hall. Discussions emanating from this colloquium were continued at a symposium at the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at UCT. Stellenbosch University Music Department personnel were well represented, not only at its own venues, but also at UCT and other Cape Town venues. Notable performances amongst others given by SU Music Department staff members included a recital of songs and piano music by Viktor Ullmann preceded by a selection of short pieces by the 12-year-old Josima Feldschuh, as well as chamber music by Wilhelm Grosz, Werner Baer and Walter Wurzburger. Staff members, Dr Pieter Grobler (piano), Minette du Toit Pearce (alto), Jolene Auret Kappis (soprano) and Peter Martens (cello) performed alongside Cape Town’s finest musicians. After the opening event in the Gardens Shul, Red Riding Hood – a children’s opera by Wilhelm Grosz – was performed at the Hugo Lambrechts auditorium, and the final performance of choral music by a diversity of Holocaust composers featuring the Cape Soloists Choir in Erin Hall, Cape Town, we were represented by our students, alumni and ad-hoc staff members: Colette Brand (Cello), David Bester and Piet de Beer (violin), Visser Liebenberg (clarinet), Myles Roberts (Flute) and Roxane Steffen (double bass). No fewer than 12 SU and SICMF alumni participated as members of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra in an historic performance of Grosz’s Serenade, a large orchestral work that featured in this concert in the Cape Town City Hall alongside Richard Strauss’s epic tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra. According to the Australian PtJA researcher, Joseph Toltz, “This concert was the first in living memory to hear one of Grosz’s early, large-scale orchestral compositions.” It was last played by the Vienna Philharmonic under under Felix Weingartner in the 1920s.

On the one hand, PtJA seeks to give a voice to composers, playwrights and poets suppressed or destroyed by the Holocaust, and on the other hand, seeks to bring remembrance and commemoration through the reconstruction of a people’s forgotten legacy through music and drama. To this end composition students from both UCT and SU were given wartime Jewish texts to set to music. New music was created by these students, thereby giving the texts fresh wings with which to fly and grace parts of the world that may never have heard them otherwise.

According to the pre-eminent South African composer, Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, “The symposia and concerts were of the highest level of musical and intellectual quality… the outstanding highlight was the unbelievable level and quality of the new compositions produced by the Stellenbosch and UCT students… Having been a professor of composition at Wits University for many many years, I can safely say that these students acquitted themselves publicly on the highest level – and to such an extent that the Leeds University organisers have committed to including these new compositions in their archive to be performed internationally. …without the composers, there are NO musicologists nor performers – these young composers are a CRITICAL element in the sustainable MUSIC-ECO system. You can be extremely proud of the work they produced.”

Prof Henrik Hofmeyr from the S.A.C.M. at UCT “was most impressed by the works created by the Stellenbosch Composition students. The results certainly speak of a thriving Composition class, and reflect most positively on the Music Department and the University as a whole.”

The student compositions were indeed excellent – every single one of them – and each in a different way. I was of course deeply involved in the whole festival so perhaps that increased my sensitivity here, but nevertheless, there were moments whilst playing the student compositions that I felt the same reverence that I feel when playing a quartet by Schubert or Beethoven. I know that all the performers feel that if they were asked to play any of these works again, they would accept in a heartbeat.

The Department of Music at Stellenbosch University has produced a long line of internationally recognised and lauded composers. The first crop of distinguished composers from the early decades of the 1900s included F.W. Jannasch, a founder staff member of the institution, Arnold van Wyk and Hubert du Plessis. Notable composers to be counted amongst our staff and alumni since include Roelof Temmingh, Hans Roosenschoon (current Professor of Composition at the Dept of Music), Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Hans Huyssen and Hendrik Hofmeyr. In recent years, the Department has also enjoyed a fruitful association with Trevor Jones, a South African born international film music composer of Hollywood fame. Stellenbosch University students who composed works for the Jewish Archive include Kelsey Muller, Jesse Dreyer, Carlie Schoonees, Natalie Frenz and Leonore Bredekamp. Leading this new generation of Stellenbosch composers are Arthur Feder and Antoni Schonken. Whilst the facilities at the Stellenbosch University Department of Music are well equipped to continue this legacy, one cannot but be apprehensive about prospects threatened by increasing financial cuts.

When Sir Winston Churchill was advised by a member of his cabinet to take from the budget of Arts and Culture to service a shortfall in the war budget, he refused and retorted, “Then what are we fighting for?” Perhaps Leeds University’s flagship project Performing the Jewish Archive, was timeously sent to provide the impetus for the next great wave in the history of Stellenbosch University’s impressive composition portfolio. At the very least, it provided an internationally-recognised local platform that showcased the impressive potential we have here.

On Saturday 30 September, the University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra honoured prof Roosenschoon, who will retire at the end of this year, with a touching performance of his work Vier gebede (2004). Like those of his students who composed for the Jewish Archive, this work of his was a setting of a most profound text.

In response to a request for comment on the Jewish Archive project, Prof Hans Roosenschoon wrote, “Let our mindfulness and being in the world never be silenced again by inhumane annihilation. Let us listen to others…….”

For more on the PtJA project, its illustrious team of researchers and video recordings of all the South African performances, please see www.ptja.leeds.ac.uk.

Peter Martens

10 October 2017

The Music Department in partnership with Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Transformation Office, the Visual Arts Department and the Women’s Forum presented a concert in celebration of Women’s Day in August in the Endler Hall in Stellenbosch. The SU Jazz Band took centre stage under the direction of Felicia Lesch joined by South African jazz legend Gloria Bosman and jazz singer and poet Mihi-Tuwi Matshingana.

The evening was specifically dedicated to honouring the memory of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke – the first black South African woman to obtain tertiary education and who graduated in the USA in 1901. Her mantra, “When you rise, lift someone up with you”, is a maxim that artists Felicia Lesch, Bosman and Matshingana all embrace.

Lesch is passionate about music as a vehicle for social change and formed the SU Jazz Band as one of the ensembles of the Certificate Programme. The Certificate Programme is the pre-undergraduate programme of the SU Music Department which was created to empower students with skills to embark on a BMus or Diploma programme at tertiary level.

Matshingana completed a BCom degree at SU in 2014, during which time she also studied in the Music Department’s Certificate Programme, a programme to which she paid homage on stage. She is currently a third-year Jazz Studies student at Wits University in Johannesburg.

South African author and journalist Zubeida Jaffer’s third book “Beauty of the heart“, which is a tribute to Maxeke and also provides fresh information on her life, was available for purchase at the event. Jewellery from an jewellery exhibition by Kutlwano Cele, a student in the Visual Arts Department, was also on sale.

The SRC and many students from other departments and faculties supported the concert. 

“For some this was their first “Endler experience”, which made it a particularly joyful event,” said Monica du Toit of the Transformation Office.

Special guests from within the Arts Faculty, the Women’s Forum, the Gender Equality Unit, SU Museum, SU Transformation Office and community partners of the Music Department’s own Certificate Programme also attended the Woman’s Day Celebration Concert. 

“The event was a moment of institutional belonging and connection with new people at our institution.”

“We look forward to more meaningful collaborations in the future and honour the women (and men) on stage who are using music as a vehicle to liberate, educate, rage and dream,” added Du Toit.​​

The Stellenbosch University Chamber Choir (SUCC), has just returned from a hugely successful tour to Hong Kong. The choir was invited as Artist Choir in Residence to the 2017 World Youth & Children’s Choir Festival which took place from 17-22 July 2017. An invitation of this nature can be considered both a great and rare honour.

The World Youth and Children’s Choir Festival is one of the most important choral festivals in the world, and attracts 200 participating choirs from across the globe. SUCC’s concerts were listened to by around 5000 participants and performances were live-streamed worldwide.

Founded and conducted by Martin Berger, this young ensemble has developed into one of South Africa’s leading chamber choirs: internationally respected and locally relevant. With the diversity of its repertoire, SUCC represents the variety of choral music styles to be found in the country.

The choir performed at the Opening Ceremony of the festival on 18 July, a full evening concert on 19 July and also at the 20^th Anniversary Celebration Concert of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.  All performances were received with overwhelming enthusiasm from the audience.

SUCC was honoured by the presence and support of the South African Consul-General to Hong Kong, Mr Madoda Ntshinga, at both the Opening Ceremony and the full evening concert. He commended the choir on “…raising the South African flag even much higher as true ambassadors of our country.”

During a prestigious event on Saturday 29 July in Parow, Cape Town, 24-year old pianist Sulayman Human was named overall winner of the national instrumental classical music competition, ATKV-Muziq.

ATKV-Muziq, the biggest and most prestigious classical music competition in Southern Africa, with previous winners including international award-winning pianist Ben Schoeman and Megan-Geoffrey Prins, is an annual contribution of the ATKV towards classical music in South Africa. This is a national classical music competition for young musicians between the ages of 15 and 27, with a total prize money of R180 000 awarded to the winners.

Sulayman, currently a Masters student at the University of Stellenbosch, won the Overall Prize of R65 000. An additional prize of R8 500 for the Best Interpretation of a Baroque or Classical work during the Final Round was also awarded to Sulayman for his rendition Mozart’s  Sonata no. 10 in C major, K330; III. Allegretto.

The overall second prize of R32 000 was awarded to Cameron Williams (saxophone) and the overall third prize of R16 000 was awarded to Jeffrey Armstrong (violin).

An additional prize of R8 500 for the Best Interpretation of a South African Composition during the Second Round was awarded to Cameron Williams for his rendition of

1. Stephenson’s Introduction and Allegro.

Young adult musicians across Southern Africa were invited to participate in the first round in May this year. The top ten candidates were chosen to take part in the second round.  Five finalists were then chosen at the end of the second round to participate in the final round. The remainder of the five finalists (besides Sulayman, Cameron and Jeffrey) were Brain Bae (piano) and Jonathan Mayer (violin), who also performed during the final round.

The Afrikaans national radio station, RSG, was the media partner of ATKV-Muziq this year.

 

Award-winning South African pianist Megan-Geoffrey Prins will present a free solo recital on Friday, 28 July at 20:00 in the Endler Hall at Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Music Department. The concert will be preceded by public master classes from 14:00 to 17:00, also hosted by the SU Music Department.

Prins is currently studying towards a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the USA, where he completed his Master’s degree under famed pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Last year, Prins won the ATKV Muziq Instrumental Competition. In 2015, he won the Fifth UNISA National Piano Competition and the inaugural Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival Competition. The Cleveland Institute of Music recently awarded him the Sadie Zellen Piano Prize and the coveted Maurice and Judith Kaplow Prize for Uncommon Creativity.

Throughout his Master’s and Doctorate degree studies, Prins relied on the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, the National Arts Council of South Africa, private sponsors, and online fundraising campaigns to fund his studies. He hopes to raise enough money to complete his final year of doctoral studies before he returns to the USA at the end of August 2017.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the emotional and financial support I’ve received throughout my studies,” says Prins. “I’m delighted that the SU Music Department is hosting this free concert. It is an opportunity for me to thank all those who have supported me so far and I will be able to update guests on my current fundraising progress.”

In the first half of the recital, Prins will perform works by Joseph Haydn, Frédéric Chopin, and South African composer Graham Newcater. The second half will feature selections from Sergei Lyapunov’s 12 Etudes d`Exécution Transcendante. For more information, please visit Prins’ website at www.megangeoffreyprins.com.