31 Aug 2010 A cross-section of South Africa’s most outstanding young musicians will be joining the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra for its annual Youth Concerto Festival on 8 September 2010.

A highlight on the JPO calendar, this concert gives audiences a glimpse of the exceptional young talent that will enrich the country’s orchestras of tomorrow, while providing budding instrumentalists with the opportunity to shine as soloists on a professional platform. The event also underscores the JPO’s ongoing commitment to music education and development.

Most of these youngsters – ranging in age from 11 to 23 – are still at school or in tertiary education, yet have already notched up impressive track records, playing in youth orchestras and excelling in eisteddfods and music competitions both locally and abroad. Most hail from Johannesburg, with one Capetonian and another from Grahamstown.

The JPO Youth Concerto Festival 2010 takes place at the Linder Auditorium in Parktown on Wednesday, 8 September at 8pm. There will be a dress rehearsal at 10am on the day that is also open to the public.

Three young violinists will be performing different works with the JPO on the day. Fifteen-year-old Carli D’Alebout, a Grade 9 learner from Potchefstroom Gymnasium who studies under Zanta Hofmeyr, will perform the first movement of the Mozart Violin Concerto in G major (K.216). Jonathan Mayer (16) has already passed Grade 7 in violin with distinction and is currently concert master for the Johannesburg Youth Orchestra. He will be playing Tchaikovsky’s Mélodia from Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42.

While those two teenage violin prodigies started playing the violin at a young age, Phenyo Nakedi (22) began his violin training at the age of 19, and has already played with the JPO and accompanied Victor Ntoni on tour to London. He is currently studying music at the JPO Academy, and will be playing Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs during the concert.

The three young cellists taking to the stage are Themba Machobane, Neo Phambuka and Abel Selaocoe. Nineteen-year-old Abel Selaocoe has already notched up several competition wins and professional performances as a soloist, in South Africa, Germany, England and the USA, and is set to study further at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He is performing Popper’s Hungarian Rhapsody, Op. 68.

Themba Machobane (23) is another JPO Academy student who, like Selaocoe, started playing cello under the guidance of Kutlwano Masote in Soweto and has since performed with the JPO Youth Orchestra and the African Youth Ensemble. He will be playing Faure’s Elegie Op. 24 for cello and orchestra.

National School of the Arts matric learner Neo Phambuka (18) has played with the Miagi Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra, and is currently a member of the JPO cadet orchestra who studies under Wessel Beukes. He is performing Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No.1, Op. 33 in A minor during the concert.
Clarinetist Luke Newby (20) is another rising star who is a multi award-winning second-year music student at Wits University, the first clarinetist of the JPO Academy Orchestra and a member of the Miagi Youth Orchestra. He will be lending his talents to Crusell’s Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 5: Rondo.

Capetonian flautist Sally Minter (22), who is playing Chaminade’s Concertino for Flute and Orchestra, Op. 107, has racked up several awards, scholarships and grants, and has played as principal flautist in the UCT Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Symphonic Wind Orchestra. She has also performed for the Prince of Bahrain and the King and Queen of Norway.

Pianist Mia Pistorius (22), who has received several awards and scholarships since starting her BMus studies at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, will play Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22, 1st movement, while 11-year-old Althea Steynberg, who has been playing the recorder since she was five and has already won a number of awards, will perform Vivaldi’s Concerto in G major, Op. 10, No. 4 (RV 435, Largo & Allegro).

Don’t miss this opportunity to witness these 10 dynamic teens and young adults in action at the JPO Youth Concerto Festival on 8 September, at 10am and 8pm. JPO subscribers who present their membership cards will receive free entrance, while the entrance fee is R50 for members of the public and R20 for pensioners and students. The seating is unreserved and tickets are only available at door of the venue on the day of the concert.