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 […]

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 […]

“It’s like Christmas in July!” exclaimed one loyal supporter who has been attending the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival since its inception in 2004. She, along with other audience members, hundreds of young students and a constellation of top musicians representing a host of countries from around the globe, have descended on the university town […]