People of Note

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is the young South African composer Braam Du Toit. Braam is also a choral conductor and is the recipient of a number of awards and accolades

He stated he has "always been interested in combining music with other art forms," and that he finds "the reciprocal influence between music, visuals and performance intriguing and exciting."

An exciting new play has opened at the Theatre on the Bay. It’s called My Brilliant Divorce, written by Geraldine Aron and stars Kate Normington. It’s a one woman show during which Kate has to take many other parts and it’s described as a tragic/comic exploration in the world of a newly divorced woman after 20 years of marriage with searing humour, slapstick comedy self-analysis and drama.

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is Maria Du Toit, the South African and also now Dutch clarinettist who is internationally in demand as a soloi8st and Chamber musician. Maria was principal clarinet with the Cape Philharmonic, before marrying the Dutch conductor Arjan Tien and moving to Holland. In the previous symphony season, Maria was here to perform two 20th century Clarinet Concerts by the South African composers David Earl and Conrad Assman. Maria speaks passionately about these works which will be broadcast here on FMR next Thursday the 30th.

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is a man who is something of an institution in Afrikaans music. Jannie Du Toit is a singer songwriter who has had a long and distinguished career in the world of music. He enjoyed a 25 year collaboration with the accompanist Christa Steyn and has been won numerous awards. He remains hugely involved in shows and composing with a long list of productions on the go at the moment.

A new ballet company here in Cape Town is called Cape Ballet Africa and they’ve just had their inaugural season at the Baxter called SALT. Diane van Schoor has been appointed Guest Teacher and Patron of the new company and she brings a life of experience as a ballet dancer and now teacher who has won many awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Cecchetti Council of America.

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is Clive Ridgway who is a songwriter, musician, music producer, author and teacher. He has composed songs for many of South Africa’s most successful recording artists and has performed both locally and internationally. He also runs the Cape Town School of Songwriting and the AFDA School for the Creative Economy

David Kramer’s hugely successful musical Orpheus in Africa is being repeated at the Artscape Theatre and David has reworked it to be produced with Cape Town Opera. It’s now called Orpheus McAdoo and stars Brittany Smith and Conroy Scott with the Cape Town Opera Chorus and opens on 18 October. Rodney Trudgeon invited David Kramer into the People of Note studio to talk about this exciting project.

A book which is proving to be invaluable to lovers of contemporary music in South Africa is called History of Contemporary Music of South Africa. Similar to an encyclopaedia, the book has a wealth of information on artists, bands, composers and performers with many photographs. It was written by Garth Chilvers and Tom Jasiukowicz and I invited Garth Chilvers to the People of Note studio to discuss how he went about researching and putting the book together.

The fascinating way our ears operate is the subject of this week’s People of Note. I’ll be talking to James Loock, Professor of ENT at Tygerberg Hospital, and Jenny Perold an audiologist also at Tygerberg about the remarkable technology of Cochlear Implants, that allows severely and profoundly deaf people to hear again.

Four of the concerts in the current symphony season with the Cape Town Philharmonic are being conducted by the Dutch conductor Arjan Tien. Arjan is no stranger to South Africa and, apart from the concerts he’s conducting, he is one of the judges of the 6th SA Conductor’s Competition. Arjan has selected an unusual and very interesting series of programmes for the season and Rodney trudgeon invited him to the People of note studio to discuss his concerts, which include the might Mahler 7th.