MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

PEMS Summer Serenade

By

The Port Elizabeth Music Society Summer Serenade on Sunday 12 November at the NMU South Campus Auditorium will feature Zanta Hofmeyr (violin), Malané Hofmeyr-Burger (flute) and Erika Bothma (piano).

In 2020 the Murray descendants had a big reunion in Graaff Reinet. The Hofmeyrs are proud Murray descendants and they asked Prof Troskie (organ) and IDr Erika Bithma to perform with them in a concert in the John Rupert Theatre as well as in the church service on the Sunday morning. It was a huge success, and since then Troskie and Bothma have been trying to find a time that suits all of the artists to perform together again!

Zanta Hofmeyr was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and graduated from the Juilliard School in New York. She studied with Dorothy Delay and Hyo Kang, Vincent Fritelli, Eva Jeskova and Masao Kawasaki. She performed her New York debut recital at Carnegie Recital Hall (Weil Recital Hall) in 1985 as winner of the Artists International competition. She has performed in the USA, UK, Netherlands, Malta, Namibia and South Africa.

She supports South African composers and gave South African premieres of ‘Raptus, ‘Nelle mani d’Damduscias’ and the ‘Sonata for violin and piano’ by Hendrik Hofmeyr as well as works by Jeanne Zaidel-Rudoph, Stefans Grové and Kevin Volans. The British composer Richard Pantcheff wrote a sonata for her and organist Wim Viljoen.

She is the recipient of numerous awards of which the last one was the 2019 Fiësta prize for her collaboration with violinist, Miro Chakaryan, and pianist, Olive Sandilands, in ‘Violin Dialogue’. Since 2022, she became a member of the newly-formed piano quartet, Take Four. Zanta is committed to supporting young

talent. She acted as adjudicator in the Rudolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition in Italy in 2016. In South Africa, she often acts as jury member for different music competitions – recently for the UNISA National String Competition. In 2000, the University of Pretoria appointed her as associate professor of violin for six years after which she continued with part-time and private teaching. She is the patron of the Thabang ka Mmino music project in Soweto, SA.

Malané Hofmeyr-Burger studied flute with Denise Gardiner, Chippie Yutar and Eva Tamassy. She completed her music studies at the University of Stellenbosch, clinching the ATKV Forte and Oude Meester Competitions in her final year. Realizing a childhood dream, she furthered her studies in Vienna. She is a member of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed in recitals all over SA, as well as in Zambia, Mozambique, Seychelles, Belgium, Azerbaijan and Italy. Amongst her most cherished performances are the annual outdoor concerts in the Kruger National Park in aid of counter-poaching.

Malané is a devoted flute teacher with students between the ages of 9 and 75. She is a keen chamber musician playing in the Umoya Woodwind Quartet, a Flute and Marimba Duo with Magdalena de Vries, a Flute and Guitar Duo with James Grace, as well as other ensembles.

Erika Bothma is a senior lecturer in piano at the Nelson Mandela University. For the past 27 years she established herself as a teacher, performer, chamber musician, accompanist and concerto soloist. She is the President of the PE Music Society since 2003, and plays the violin in the Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also on UNISA’s national panel of music examiners. In 2019 and 2021 she received a Creative Outputs award from the Nelson Mandela University for instrumental music excellence.

The chosen Summer Serenade works are varied and interesting. Experience Trios by JCF Bach, Cesar Cui, Jacques Ibert and Doppler. Malané will play two movements

from the Suite Antique by John Rutter while Zanta will perform (with the piano) a Romance by Amy Beach.

Tickets are available on the afternoon at the door. For PEMS members the entry is free. For non-members it is R95 for adults, R80 for pensioners, R40 for students and R35 for learners.

The following two tabs change content below.

Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.