Erik Dippenaar
In 2003 Erik Dippenaar obtained the degree BMus (cum laude) from the University of Stellenbosch, and was awarded a MMus (with distinction) by the Royal College of Music in London in 2007. The following year he completed an Artist Diploma in Performance at the Royal College under Jane Chapman (harpsichord) and Geoffrey Govier (fortepiano).
As a student in South Africa, Erik won most of the important music competitions, including the ABSA National Youth Music Competition (2000), UNISA National Organ Competition (2001), Mabel Quick Bursary Competition (2001), ATKV Musiq Competition (2002), the organ category of Distell Music Competition (2002) and the Unisa Overseas Bursary competition (2003).
From 2005 to 2011 Erik was based in London, where he played in various important early music festivals such as the Greenwich Early Music Festival, the London Handel Festival, the Brighton Early Music Festival and the Trigonale Festival der Alten Musik. His primary activity is chamber music and he has performed regularly with Florilegium, The London Handel Players, l’Avventura London, Amaranthos and Spirituoso. Erik’s work for Florilegium has led to collaborations with singers such as dame Emma Kirkby, Robin Blaze, Johanette Zomer and Gillian Keith. He also worked with the English Touring Opera, the Little Baroque Company and Ensemble Serse on a regular basis.
While in Londen, Erik gave regular solo recitals, which included a recital for the British Harpsichord Society, as well as regular broadcasts for BBC Radio 3. In 2010 he made his debut in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Erik was one of the official accompanists for the annual London Handel Singing Competition, and in March 2008 he was awarded the competition’s Accompanist’s Prize. He won the RCM Early Music Competition twice, and was a member of the group Musici Infaticabili, who won the Broadwood Early Keyboard Ensemble Competition in Fenton House in May 2008. During 2008/2009 Erik was appointed as Mills/Williams Junior Fellow at the RCM, and he taught harpsichord at the Centre for Young Musicians in London.
Erik is currently Artistic Director of the Cape Town-based baroque orchestra Camerata Tinta Barocca, a member of the period ensemble The Cape Consort and a part-time lecturer in music history and historical performance practice at the University of Cape Town. He is now studying towards a PhD in music at UCT, focussing on the role historical domestic keyboard instruments played in the colonisation process in Southern Africa. He has recently been awarded a Research Associateship by the University of Cape Town.