Category: Review
“I can still hear the words ringing in the air as he sang with a smile, his face aglow with contentment and radiance emanating from within. In that moment, I knew I wanted that, too – the experience of a deep-seated joy; the bliss and fulfilment that comes from doing that one thing that you […]
About his magnificent Organ Symphony, Saint-Saëns wrote: “With it, I have given all that I could give. What I did, I could not achieve again.” After sixteen years, the team at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival continues to achieve remarkable success, again and again. Earlier on Sunday, the Festival Concert Orchestra performed a special community […]
Looking back, it is always the best of times that seem to pass the most quickly. The last nine days, crammed full of rehearsals, master classes and concerts, and peppered with new friendships and illuminating coaching sessions, have evaporated in a flash. Last night, at the penultimate evening concert of the 2019 Stellenbosch International Chamber […]
For a performer, there is little to match the exhilaration of a full house. Friday night’s first student concert at the 2019 Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival attracted a capacity audience for a musical programme that promised a rare blend of the contemporary and the Romantic. While the backstage crew carried out their final preparations […]
The musical chefs at the 2019 Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival prepared the perfect feast at last night’s final Faculty Concert. The four-movement menu was carefully selected and balanced to satisfy the palates of the musicians and the audience alike.The evening began with a “toast” by Festival Director Peter Martens in anticipation of the supreme […]
The inclusion of music by Antonin Dvořák on the programme at last night’s Faculty Concert reminded us that the composers of old did not work in isolation. The Czech composer’s success was due largely to the enthusiasm of Brahms for his work who, in turn, had Robert Schumann to thank for launching his career. This […]
“Let’s travel back in time… Before there were movies or emails, before zippers or skirts, before books like the Kama Sutra, before the first lullaby was sung to a baby, nog voor daar mense was soos Zuma of ‘n krieket team soos die Proteas, before the time of Mitchells Plain and Distrik Ses… Now we are […]
The first half of Monday night’s SICMF Faculty Concert dispelled the notion that chamber music is necessarily a serious business. The opening work was Hans Roosenschoon’s piano quartet, The man who (unknowingly) mistook his music for mathematics, which was written for this year’s Johannesburg International Mozart Festival. (The title may remind you of the book by […]
There are many remarkable aspects of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival. Surely one of these must be the inclusion of a significant number of musical works that local audiences would otherwise be unlikely to hear on the stage. Perusing the programme, one is struck by the number of works that are listed as “South […]
Even the soaking Cape rain could not dampen the enthusiasm of the participants on the second day of the 2019 Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival. Instead, the winter weather seemed to accentuate the warmth and intimacy of the various gatherings within the Konservatorium and the continuous flow of observation and practise, teaching and learning taking […]
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