Saturday 13 May 2023, 12:30, Moravian Church, Greyton, R160
The Rainbow Exchange String Quartet will be performing a programme of music from some of the most iconic ballets such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Sylvia and others. A Quartet at the Ballet features Valentina Koleva-Vorster (Violin), Renée van der Westhuizen (Violin), Karin Gaertner (Viola) and Dane Coetzee (Cello).
Biographies
Valentina Koleva-Vorster
Valentina Koleva-Vorster started playing the violin at the age of five. She obtained her BMus in Violin Performance with the late Prof. Eli Kazakova at the National Academy of Music in her native country Bulgaria. She won several Bulgarian national competitions for solo violin and chamber music. As a member of two Bulgarian State Symphony orchestras, she participated in various opera tours throughout Europe. She joined KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and Baroque 2000 Orchestra in Durban, South Africa in 2002, holding the position of Co-principal of the first violinists in the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra between 2006-2009, and appearing as a soloist with both orchestras on several occasions. Valentina was a member of the Wouter String Quartet, which was voted Best Classical group in KZN for 2007. Throughout her career she performed in a variety of chamber concerts with several of South Africa’s top musicians.
Valentina is a sought-after violin teacher and was full-time violin and viola teacher, as well as the conductor of the Senior String orchestra and concertmaster of the Symphony orchestra at Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre between 2011 and 2018. Since 2019 She has her own violin studio and a student string orchestra Da Cape’O Strings at El Shaddai Christian school in Durbanville. Currently, Valentina freelances as solo- and chamber musician and performs as ad hoc. member with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cape Town Baroque orchestra and the Stellenbosch University Camerata. Together with the flutist Liesl Stoltz and Salome van Wyk, Valentina is one of the founder members of The Rainbow Exchange NPC.
Renée van der Westhuizen
Renée van der Westhuizen started her musical training in 1988 at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre under the tuition of Louis van der Watt. Throughout her career Renée appeared as a soloist at the Hugo Lambrechts Concerto Festival, with the Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra, Cape Town Baroque Ensemble and Camerata Tinta Barocca. Renee was the recipient of various awards including the Robert Clough bursary at the UNISA bursary competition as well as several merit bursaries from the University of Stellenbosch (2000-2002). From an early age Renée showed great interest in orchestral playing. She was a member and co-concert master of the National Youth Orchestra (1997-2003), co-concert master of Canticum Novum (1999-2002) and a member and concertmaster (2002; 2007) of the University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra. Renee completed a BMus Degree in Performance at the University of Stellenbosch (2003) under the tuition of Suzanne Martens. She is a former member of various local orchestras including the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, Johannesburg Music Initiative, Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, Pro Musica, MIAGI and Camerata Tinta Barocca. Renee was a permanent tutti member of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra from 2014-2019 and still performs with the orchestra on an ad hoc basis.
Karin Gaertner
Karin Gaertner was a member of the former CT Symphony Orchestra for many years and then principal violist of the former CT Philharmonic Orchestra prior to its closure. Her studies include a B.Sc from UCT and a Performer’s Diploma from the conservatoire Claudio Monteverdi in Italy, as well as various master classes in Europe. Her work experience beyond SA’s borders includes several years as an ad-hoc member of the Orchestra del teatro lirico di Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), the Orchestra Haydn (Bolzano, Italy) and the Mozarteum Orchester, Salzburg. She is an active Chamber musician and regular member of the Amici String Quartet, the Palm Strings Quartet and many other free-lance chamber groups and ad-hoc orchestras.
Dane Coetzee
Dane Coetzee started playing the cello in the New Apostolic Church. He went on to graduate in cello performance studies at UCT and Stellenbosch University respectively. 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 appeared as soloist and chamber musician at the KKNK, The Suidoosterfees, The National Arts Festival, Klein Karoo Klassique and performed as a soloist with The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, The Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the Musicanti Orchestra. He has been featured and performed on radio, South African national television, as solo and orchestral cellist for the soundtracks of local and international films and features as cellist on the albums of numerous artists. Dane occupied a permanent Tutti cello position in the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra up until October 2021 and resigned to take up the position of cello teacher at the Beau Soleil Music Centre in Cape Town. His current performance portfolio includes activities as a soloist, chamber musician, ad-hoc orchestral musician and studio session cellist. He also enjoys collaborations with various artists, performing across a vast range of musical genres.
The Rainbow Exchange Mission Statement
The Rainbow Exchange is a not-for-profit company that was founded in February 2020. We believe in the power of the performing arts to connect and communicate with communities, thus contributing to a healthier society. Our aim is to bring the performing arts to communities who do not have easy access (including rural, disadvantaged communities, the elderly), to provide a platform for young, upcoming performing artists and to promote South African composers.
We support creative collaboration that contribute towards the United Nations SDG goals and therefore collaborate on interdisciplinary projects with other institutions and organizations. As a non-profit company The Rainbow Exchange NPC relies on the support of the public, funders and donors to reach our goals and objectives. If you want to support us in bringing more classical concerts and other performing arts to Cape Town’s Northern Suburbs and beyond, or support our projects in rural communities, please consider donating to our organization.