Whirlwind of concerts at the conservatory
Although the Conservatory of the North-West University’s Potchefstroom Campus was reasonably quiet on the music front during the first half of the year, there is a whirlwind of concerts that will be presented by the School of Music during the rest of the year. A dozen concerts of variable nature will be presented over 14 weeks, and there should be something for everyone to listen to.
The Dean’s Concert opens the Conservatory’s concert series on Tuesday 19 July with a performance by the Luca Ciarla Quartet from Italy.
The Dean’s Concert opens the concert series on Tuesday 19 July with a performance by the Luca Ciarla Quartet from Italy. After their visits to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and the Volksblad Arts Festival in Bloemfontein, they will also perform in Potchefstroom with a programme consisting of original songs and musical arrangements in which contemporary jazz and ethnic music are mixed into an irresistible Mediterranean sound. The concert is presented in cooperation of the Italian Cultural Institute in Pretoria.
The well known Potchefstroom soprano, Mandie de Villiers-Schutte, presents a concert of operetta, opera and songs together with the accompaniment of the pianist Waldo Weyer on Tuesday 26 July. They promise musical monologues full of drama, emotion and surprises!
André van Daalen was the first hobo player (in 2004) to win the ATKV Muziq competition. As part of his national concert tour, he will be performing on Tuesday 16 August together with the pianist Albie van Schalkwyk in a programme of mainly Romantic music for hobo and piano.
A week later, on Tuesday 23 August, two former students of the School of Music, Pierre and Sophie van der Westhuizen, return from the USA as the Westhuizen Duo. Their previous concerts in the hall of the Conservatory were highly entertaining and the two grand pianos are going to rumble again! This concert is sponsored by the Ferdinand Postma Library of the NWU Potchefstroom Campus.
Another overseas group will be performing on Tuesday 6 September: The Calefax Reed Quintet from the Netherlands arrange, recompose and interpret music spanning eight centuries: from early music, renaissance and baroque to romantic and contemporary works, and even jazz.
On Tuesday 13 September the outstanding students of the School of Music get the opportunity again to show their mettle in the annual Bursary Winners Concert.
In celebration of heritage month in September, the Pan African Music and Theatre Arts Group (PAMATA) will present a concert on Tuesday 20 September consisting of traditional and contemporary music and dance from different African cultures. This special concert is sponsored by the SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts.
The biggest production of the year is a complete performance of Mozart’s comic opera, Così fan tutte, by students of the School of Music together with the NWU-PUK Symphonic Orchestra under conductorship of Fanie Jooste, and produced by Santisa Viljoen and Conroy Cupido. There will be two shows in the Sanlam Auditorium on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 September in conjunction with NWU-PUK Arts.
In October there are more concerts with a performance of clarinet trios on Thursday 13 October by local musicians Belinda Latzky-Campbell (clarinet), Piet Koornhof (violin) and Colin Campbell (piano).
The SAMRO Endowment for the National Arts also sponsors the South African Music Concert on Tuesday 18 October during which first performances of new solo and ensemble works by local composers will be given.
The concert year at the Conservatory is concluded with the Rector’s Concert on Thursday 20 October. This is a performance by the highly acclaimed Potch Trio with Piet Koornhof (violin), Human Coetzee (cello) and Bernarda Vorster (piano).
All these concerts start at 19:30 in the Conservatory Hall except for the opera on 26 and 27 September, which will take place in the Sanlam Auditorium. Tickets are reasonably priced at R50 for adults and R30 for learners, students and pensioners. Discount is available for block bookings.
Additional information on these concerts is available at http://www.nwu.ac.za/music/ or join the School of Music’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/NWU.Music
Published by Kiewiet Scheppel on 13 July 2011.