Concert in Goodnow Hall
2008-12-04
THE music activities in Wellington close with an interesting concert which inaugurates the renovated 9 foot Steinway 1927 Concert Grand on Sunday at 17:00 at the Goodnow Hall in Wellington, with the Camerata Tinta Barocca and a number of soloists. The marvellous piano is the backbone of the National Hennie Joubert Piano Competition which is presented bi-annually by the local Music Society in collaboration with the Cape Peninsula University for Technology. This competition, which received International Status by the Chopin Federation in 2000 due to its high level of performance as well as its exacting repertoire requirements, usually attracts top notch young pianists up to the age of 18 years. The piano itself has an interesting history - no-one can recall how the piano landed in Wellington, but the current chairperson of the Competition, André Serfontein, discovered this piano on the stage of the Wellington Town Hall. He was acting as a compére to a fashion show when he was led to the drinks counter - a closer inspection revealed that it was a big concert grand! The rector of the Boland Teachers’ Training College (as the CPUT was previously known), Johan Slabbert, bought the piano from the municipality for R50 000 and had it cleaned up and tuned. It was then relocated to the CP van der Merwe Hall in 1996 where it was used in the piano competition that year. The move to its current location (the famous Goodnow Hall) is also a story in itself which was successfully administered due to a building miscalculation (one staircase was 10 cm broader which facilitated the move upstairs quite considerably). Due to all the movement the piano was in need of serious renovations. Vincent Landey of CPUT was instrumental in getting this project off the ground. The piano was beautifully renovated by Ian Burgess-Simpson of Muizenberg, Cape Town. The inaugural concert for this grand piano features some of South Africa’s top talent. The well-known Camerata Tinta Barocca (leader Quentin Crida) will be conducted by the Welsh conductor John Ashton Jones. The programme will feature André Serfontein (tenor), Peter Amon (French horn) and Bennie van Eeden (piano). Works presented will be the first performance of the Credo for Tenor Horn and Strings (Niel van der Watt), the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (Benjamin Britten) and the Piano Concerto no 2 in f (Frédéric Chopin). Tickets are R80 available at the door. Seats are unreserved as every seat in the Goodnow Hall is a good seat. Wine will be sold during the interval Further information can be obtained from reception by calling 021-864-5200 during office hours.
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