6 CELLI

SAMA, FIËSTA and WOORDTROFEE award winning cellist, Peter Martens, is currently principal cellist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Director of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival. Of his recently released CD of concertos by Saint-Saëns and Vieuxtemps with Bernhard Gueller and the CPO, Andy Wilding writes, “Martens’ cello is one of the most beautiful sounds – a deep rich harmonic wooden stringed singing being. His playing is superb, compassionate elegant phrasing, and flawless technique.”

Peter holds a PhD from Stellenbosch University where he studied with Dalena Roux. He also studied with Heidi Litschauer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He is a member of the Amici String Quartet and has enjoyed chamber music partnerships with amongst others, Leon Bosch (double bass), Priya Mitchell, Benjamin Schmid, Sergey Malov and Suzanne Martens (violin), as well as Leslie Howard (piano). He has also performed with the Brodsky String Quartet in London. With the Stellenbosch University Camerata in which he served as Artistic Director and principal cellist, he performed with Joshua Bell and Pinchas Zukerman.

Concerto engagements have resulted in collaborations with a number of fine conductors including Victor Yampolsky, Bernard Gueller, Douglas Boyd, Wolfram Christ, Nicholas Cleobury and Jonas Alber. He has participated in festivals in Russia, Holland, Salzburg, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Portugal as well has having performed in France, U.K. and U.S.A. Many South African composers have written for him, notably Allan Stephenson, whose concerto he recorded for Meridian Records with the CPO. He has recorded the Beethoven Cello Sonatas with Luis Magalhäes, and the Bach Cello Suites for Two Pianists Records.

Eddie McClean

Eddie McLean was born in 1979 in Cape Town, South Africa into a distinguished family of professional musicians.  His parents (both being violinists), started him on the violin but with an uncle and two cousins already playing the cello, the young Eddie insisted that this was the instrument he wanted to play. He began cello lessons aged seven and piano lessons the following year.  He was initially unsure whether to follow a career path in music and so completed a BSc in mathematics at the University of Cape Town.  The musical urge was too strong however, and he subsequently became a professional cellist.  He was a member of the Sontonga Quartet in 2005 and 2006 with which he performed in Holland, Slovenia, Germany, Australia and the USA.  Since 2008 he has been sub-principal cellist of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has continued, however, to be an active chamber musician and recitalist.  Musical highlights in this area have included performing and video streaming the Schubert string quintet with the Amici string quartet (in honour of the late, great Marian Lewin – a former teacher, mentor and friend); numerous performances with The 6 Celli and recording the world premiere of the Sonata for Solo Cello by Allan Stephenson.

Matthias Ender

Matthias started playing the cello at the age of eight at the local music school in Hohenems with Wolfgang Mayer. By engaging him to play in small local Operas and Operettas, it was Mayer who lit the fire in young Matthias. After very active years in Vorarlberg where he nurtured a deep interest in historically informed practice, Matthias went to study Cello with Michael Hell at the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium Innsbruck where he passed his final exam with distinction. Masterclasses with Roel Dieltiens and Raphael Wallfisch gave his musical education the final touch. He played for many years as a freelance musician in various Orchestras such as Vorarlberger Landessinfonieorchester, Kammerphilharmonie Bodensee Oberschwaben, Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck as well as in many chamber music formations, particularly the NOMA piano trio which had an active stage life for several years. In addition he co-founded „Il prete rosso baroque orchestra“ based in St.Gallen, Switzerland, which continues to be active to this day. Since 2022 he is a permanent member of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Matthias plays repertoire from as early as the Renaissance up to the works of contemporary composers. Although traditionally trained, he considers himself musically a free spirit with his heart beating for music from before 1800.

Rosamund Ender

Rosamund Ender was born in Pretoria and started her musical education at an early age. She attended Pro Arte High School for the Arts and went on to obtain her BMus from the University of Stellenbosch, where she studied under Magdalena Roux. There she also completed honours degrees in both Latin and English Literature. During her studies she played with professional orchestras like the CPO and the KZNPO on a regular basis as an ad hoc player. Her studies next took her to Zürich, Switzerland where she studied in the class of Prof. Roel Dieltiens. She obtained a Masters in Music Pedagogy, as well as a Masters in Transdisciplinary Studies from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. She was very active as a teacher in St. Gallen, Appenzell and Zurich, and as a performer all around Switzerland. She was co-principal cellist with the Zürcher Kammerphilharmonie for six years. During the Covid pandemic, she started playing the viola da gamba after discovering a great passion for early music and took private lessons with Paolo Pandolfo in Basel. In 2022 she returned to Cape Town to play full time with the CPO, and to focus on a career as a performer on the cello, the baroque cello, and the viola da gamba.

Dane Coetzee

Dane Coetzee started playing the cello in the New Apostolic Church and went on to graduate in cello performance studies at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University respectively. As a student he was a cellist in the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, The South African National Youth Orchestra and the MIAGI youth orchestra. As a member of the Stellenbosch Graduate string quartet he won 1st prize in the National Ensemble competition. He has performed concerts and participated in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, The Harare International Festival of the Arts, Zimbabwe and The Festival of Music in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and has embarked on tours performing in the USA, Dubai and Hong Kong. Dane has also appeared in capacity of solo performer and chamber musician at the KKNK, Suidoosterfees, The National Arts Festival, The Klein Karoo Klassique, The Greyton Genadendal Classics for All festival and has performed as soloist with the CPO, the CPYO and the Musicanti Orchestra. Dane was a full-time cellist for the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra for a number of years before joining the faculty of Beau Soleil Music Centre, Cape Town, where he currently occupies the position of cello teacher and cellist of the Beau Soleil Piano Quartet. Outside of Beau Soleil he remains active as a solo performer, chamber and orchestral musician, recording session cellist and enjoys regular cross collaborations with artists across a broad range of musical genres. 

Chris Njapha

Sicelo Christopher Njapha graduated with a BMus (Bachelor of Music) degree from Stellenbosch University’s Music Department in 2020, where he studied under the tutelage of Babette Roosenschoon. He is now studying for a BMus Hons under Graham du Plessis. Chris began his formal cello lessons at the age of 17, taught by Nigel Fish at the Durban Music School. Having made unusually fast progress, he participated in masterclasses courses with world-renowned cellists David Cohen, Alexander Buzlov, Norman Fischer, Gary Hoffman, Xenia Jankovic, Jerome Pernoo, and Kyril Zlotnikov.

In 2021, Chris was the ‘young rising star’ performer in the Endler hall concert series. Chris has worked with the Cape Town, the KwaZulu Natal and Mzansi Philharmonic Orchestras. He was semi-finalist in the UNISA national strings competition in 2021 and competed in the ATKV Instrumental and Edna Elphick cello competitions and was a prize winner. He has appeared as a soloist with the KZNPO and the CPO as well as the Cape Town youth orchestra and the Stellenbosch University Orchestra. Chris was chosen to participate in the G20 summit Orchestra as one of four South African representatives in Indonesia.