The Stellenbosch international Chamber Music Festival will run from July 5 to 14 at the Department of Music - Konservatorium building – at Stellenbosch University. The coveted evening concerts will take place in the Endler Hall. In addition, the bumper intake of almost 300 student participants will perform in a variety of chamber music ensembles daily at 13:00 and 17:00 in the Fismer Hall.

Many have been waiting in anticipation for the release of the SICMF evening concert programmes. Artistic Director, Nina Schumann has been hard at work putting these together in recent months. The concert schedule is now available on sicmf.co.za for download.

As in previous years, the so-called faculty concerts feature a star-studded lineup of internationally acclaimed artists in various combinations.

For those who enjoy Baroque, Vivaldi’s concerto for violin, cello and string orchestra will feature the formidable duo of Daniel Rowland (violin) and Maja Bogdanović (cello) as soloists.

A newly published arrangement from Beethoven’s day of his fourth piano concerto will be played for the first time in South Africa by the award-winning pianist, Emanuil Ivanov. Ivanov, who wowed local audiences in SA last year, first attracted international attention after winning the 2019 Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Italy. Other gems from the Classical and early Romantic era include Mendelssohn’s third string quartet, Schubert’s “Trockne Blumen,” and a seldom heard, but beautiful octet by Woldemar Bargiel.

The great late Romantic period will be represented by the likes of Dvořák’s second piano quintet, Saint-Saëns Caprice for winds and piano, and Taneyev’s momentous piano quintet in G minor.

Nina Schumann prides herself in presenting new music each year to the extent that the SICMF has secured an exclusive new music sponsor in the Ernst von Siemens Foundation in Switzerland. This year, the SICMF has commissioned a world premiere from Pieter Bezuidenhout, which, together with works by Caroline Shaw, Oswaldo Golijov, Jörg Windemann and Garth Knox, will receive their South African premieres.

Returning stars from the past include Nicolas Dautricourt, Madeline Adkins and Andrey Baranov (violin), Boris Andrianov (cello), YaoGuang Zhai (clarinet), Dwight Parry (oboe), Marco Silva (trumpet) and Jauvon Gilliam (percussion). Newcomers include the sensational Russian flute virtuoso Ekaterina Kornishina, Ivy Ringel, the principal bassoonist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Fedor Belugin, violist of the internationally acclaimed David Oistrakh String Quartet, and the celebrated double bass player, Zoran Marković, to name a few.

The last three concerts feature performances by the Festival Symphony and Festival Concert orchestras. The FSO, under the baton of Michael Repper, will perform Borodin’s great second symphony as well as accompany the duo of Andrey Baranov and Boris Andrianov in the Brahms Double Concerto on Friday, July 12, and Jennifer Stumm in Bartok’s viola concerto on Sunday, July 15. Maestro Repper will be making his debut in South Africa. His album with the New York Youth Symphony, featuring debut recordings of works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, and Valerie Coleman, reached #1 on the Billboard Chart, and won a Grammy® Award, marking the first time a youth orchestra has achieved this milestone. The main work on the FCO programme is Dvořák’s eighth symphony, one of the most beloved symphonies of all time. FCO conductor, Simeone Tartaglione, currently holds a number of positions in and around Washington, DC. He will also be making his South African debut at the SICMF.

Whilst the coveted evening concerts of the SICMF attract the lion’s share of public attention, it is the rest of the daily programme that really speaks to the mission and vision of the festival. The SICMF is after all, a project of the Department of Music in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University. More than 90 student ensembles will partake at this year`s festival.

Every day after lunch, the full programme of chamber music activities is open to the public, with one hour student ensemble concerts taking place every day at 13:00 and 17:00, public master classes taking center stage at 15:00 and the vibrant and interactive “in Conversation with” lecture series at 19:00 just prior to the evening concert at 20:00. This year, the SICMF will also be hosting a free student composers jam session after the 20:00 concert on July 10. The full programme of student concerts, master classes and lectures is available here: sicmf.co.za

The student concerts, master classes and lectures take place in the Fismer and Janasch halls and are free of charge for Festival Pass holders. For daily patrons, tickets for R30 per session are available at the door only. Tickets for the concerts that take place in the Endler Hall from July 5 to July 14 are available from webtickets.co.za

For more information, special packages and full programme, visit :   www.sicmf.co.za

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sicmf?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Instagram:  @stellenboschfestival

Further enquiries can be addressed to the Festival Director at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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