’This festival showed me what a career in music is all about,’ says the South African violist
I first heard about the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival when I joined a youth orchestra and found all my friends were going. This past festival now marks a decade for me! This year I even took my quintet from Manchester, where I’m pursuing my master’s, and we played some concerts.
There are orchestra rehearsals every morning, then after lunch there are chamber rehearsals and coachings, rehearsals for the faculty concerts, and then the actual faculty concerts. How busy you are is different every year though.
Highlights for me have been when the symphony orchestra played viola concertos, such as the Schnittke and Bartók concertos with Gareth Lubbe and Jennifer Stumm respectively. I even asked not to play, just so I could watch it all! Also, having a one-to-one lesson with Louise Lansdown made me decide to study with her in Manchester.
This festival showed me what a career in music is all about, as well as the discipline needed. It shaped what I wanted to do. In fact, I even changed from violin to viola during one festival when there was a shortage, and I’ve played viola ever since!
I don’t think I ever came to the festival with any expectation. I just went in like a sponge, keen to learn as much as I could. I’ve just kept returning since and keep seeing growth from the previous year.
The festival is fun and you get to spend time with your friends and meet new people, but at the end of the day, you should also see this as a learning opportunity and get as much out of it as you can.
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