More than 30 internationally acclaimed artists from the USA, Europe and South Africa gather from 30 June to 9 July for the annual Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SIKMF).
“The program, which is looked forward to with anticipation, contains something for every music lover, as in previous years,” says Nina Schumann, artistic director of the SIKMF and compiler of the festival program. Schumann himself performs at the festival in performances of Vaughan Williams’ piano quintet and Tanjef’s piano quintet.
On June 30, the festival begins with an arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for a string trio, performed by Andrey Baranov (violin), Jennifer Stumm (viola) and David Cohen (cello).
However, this year’s festival focuses specifically on female musicians. These musicians include Rebecca Tong, the first female conductor of the festival’s symphony orchestra, and composers Mikhaila Alyssa Smith and Allison Loggins-Hull.
Tong is one of a handful of emerging female conductors in the world. Born in Indonesia, she is currently the official conductor of the Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra and the artistic director of Ensemble Kontempore.
Smith, a South African who currently works in New York, has already created original music and orchestrations for numerous productions at Netflix, Disney, HBO and PBS.
Lighting our Stories: Tapestries of the Invisible, a new commissioned work that Smith composed for the SIKMF, was created in collaboration with the jazz singer and songwriter Tina Schouw. It is a musical depiction of Schouw’s life and work, especially her experiences and personal journey during South Africa’s transition to democracy.
“Although Schouw’s activism is in the foreground, an engaging creative process by two women of color and from different generations resulted in a synergy of particular importance,” is Schumann’s comment about Lighting our Stories: Tapestries of the Invisible.
Loggins-Hull, who also lives in the USA, composes for a variety of media, from television and film to radio and the concert stage. Her work Hammers is an unusual combination of flute and is presented on July 4 with Demarre McGill (flute) and Jauvon Gilliam (percussion).
Other female artists joining this year’s festival staff are violinists Suzanne Martens and Farida Bacharova. They are accompanied by the famous foreign violinists Gwendolyn Masin, Jennifer Stumm, Frederieke Saeijs and Karolina Errera.
The festival program consists of a variety of presentations, including orchestra rehearsals, chamber music coaching, lecture-interviews, student chamber music concerts, faculty concerts and public master classes. All concerts will take place in the Endlersaal at the Music Department of Stellenbosch University (SU).
- Tickets for individual shows and a full festival package are included Webtickets Visit the SIKMF’s website to learn more about festival packages.
