Sunday, 12 May, 12:00, Moravian Church, Genadendal R180
(Late Baroque Concerti unveiled)
The late Baroque era (approximately 1680–1750) produced a wealth of masterful compositions for strings. Cape Town Baroque Orchestra baroque violinists, Annien Shaw and Ralitza Macheva, have selected works from well-known composers, such as Vivaldi and Corelli, but also lesser-known masters, such as Hasse and Monn, to portray an opulent tapestry of late baroque elegance, enchanting melodies and virtuosic passages. The Cape Town Baroque Orchestra invites music lovers to join them for an afternoon where the baroque (gut) strings take centre stage in a captivating concert dedicated to the splendours of the baroque era. With soloists: Annien Shaw, Ralitza Macheva, Odile Burden, Valentina Vorster and Craig Williams on baroque violin and Rosamund Ender and Cheryl de Havilland on baroque cello.
Biographies
CAPE TOWN BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
The Cape Town Baroque Orchestra (CTB) is the leading South African baroque ensemble playing on period instruments. It was founded by violinist Quentin Crida in July 2004 as Camerata Tinta Barocca. As of July 2021, the ensemble has adopted the name Cape Town Baroque Orchestra, carrying it into a new age of growth and artistic excellence. Members include some of South Africa’s finest musicians who embrace a historically informed performance approach. Mostly playing music from the 18th century, CTB has worked with international leaders in their respective fields, such as baroque violinists Antoinette Lohmann and Pauline Nobes; soprano Stefanie True; countertenors Lawrence Zazzo, Christopher Ainslie and Clint van der Linde; male soprano Philipp Mathmann; recorder players Stefan Temmingh, Erik Bosgraaf and Anna Fusek; baroque oboist and recorder player Carin van Heerden; traverso player Matthias Maute; and mandolin player Alon Sariel.
Apart from CTB’s annual concert series in St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Cape Town, the ensemble regularly accompanies opera and oratorio performances, performs in festivals throughout South Africa and has an active outreach and education programme. CTB’s concerts have been broadcast on Fine Music Radio and kykNET, and have received critical acclaim in the Cape Times and Die Burger.
Since 2011 CTB has gradually moved towards playing on period instruments. Currently, CTB is the only period ensemble in South Africa that regularly plays in orchestral format, performing all its annual concerts on period-appropriate instruments. CTB, in collaboration with the Cape Consort, gave the first South African period performance of Handel’s Messiah in 2013. During November 2016 CTB played for Cape Town Opera’s first production with a period instrument orchestra, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, directed by Jaco Bouwer and conducted by Erik Dippenaar. In 2017 CTB launched the annual Cape Town Baroque Festival. CTB’s Handel at Home concert programme was awarded a Woordtrofee in 2022, as well as a kykNET Fiësta award in 2023.
Members of the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra will make their Canadian debut as part of the Montreal Baroque Festival in June 2024.
Dr Erik Dippenaar was appointed as Artistic Director of CTB in 2015.
www.ctbaroque.co.za
Annien Shaw
Dr Annien Shaw is a soloist, chamber musician, baroque violinist and teacher based in Cape Town. She holds a PhD in Performance Practice from the University of Cape Town, a PGDip and FRSM in solo performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester UK, a Masters in Chamber Music from the University of Stellenbosch, and an Honours in Psychology from UNISA. As a chamber musician she led the award-winning Stellenbosch University String Quartet on two international tours as well as being a founding member of the renowned Juliet String Quartet. She has been actively involved in the developing Baroque scene in Cape Town as a member of the Cape Consort and a Guest Concert Master and soloist of the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra (CTB). Annien is the founding member of The Flat Mountain Project, she teaches at St Cyprians School and lectures at Stellenbosch University in violin, musicology, repertoire studies, teaching methodology, chamber music, and orchestral studies as subjects
Cheryl De Havilland
CHERYL DE HAVILLAND was born in London and began playing the cello at the age of 8. At 11 she won a bursary to study music at the Royal College of Music. Cheryl first came to South Africa for the inauguration of the Pretoria State Opera House, and then to Cape Town as co-principal cellist in the Capab Orchestra. Later she joined the CTSO and CTPO. She was cellist in the Cape Town String Quartet for many years and plays concerts regularly with the cello sextet, I Grandi Violoncellisti. Cheryl is also an established cello teacher in the Cape.
Craig Williams
Craig Williams is a notable musician, educator, and performer passionate about chamber music. Craig cultivated his talent through rigorous education, culminating in a master’s degree in Chamber Music from Stellenbosch University under the tutelage of Suzanne Martens. As an educator, his dedication to teaching goes beyond the conventional classroom, fostering a love for music in his students that extends far beyond the notes on the page.
Craig serves as an ad-hoc musician for prestigious orchestras such as the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cape Town Baroque, where he enjoys playing a wide symphonic and operatic repertoire. Chamber music holds a special place in Craig’s heart. He finds joy in the intimate collaboration in these settings. Always aspiring to better himself, Craig seeks out new experiences to enrich his musical journey. Recently, he embarked to Dublin, where he participated in the esteemed Irish Chamber Orchestra Academy Project.
Odile Burden
Odile Burden is a Cape Town born violinist and teacher, and is the Head of Strings at Rustenburg Girls’ Junior School.
During her formative years Odile studied with Isabel Arzul. She gained orchestral experience first as a member of the Festival Symphony orchestra at the annual Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival and later as a founding member and Concertmaster of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Odile has appeared as a soloist with the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra, University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Tinta Barocca, Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Studying under Dr Suzanne Martens, Odile obtained her BMus (performance) and MMus (chamber music) from Stellenbosch University in 2011 and 2017 respectively. In 2016 she completed a Diploma in Practical Music Education (violin pedagogy) from the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway. Odile has received masterclasses, most notably, from Ivry Gitlis, Daniel Rowland, Frank Stadler, Joseph Swenson, Sergei Malov, Stephan Barratt Due, Alissa Margulis, and Zoë Beyers.
As an avid orchestral and chamber musician, Odile has performed locally and internationally with The World Orchestra, Barratt Due Symphony Orchestra, Landesjugendorchester Sachsen, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Tinta Barocca, University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra, Stellenbosch Camerata, and the University of Stellenbosch String Quartet. In 2014 Odile travelled to Salzburg in order to receive lessons from Frank Stadler after being named as a recipient of one of the 10×10 scholarships of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival.
Odile has performed regularly as a member of the Cape Town Baroque orchestra since 2018. Here, her joy for performing baroque music in an accessible and engaging manner has been nurtured.
Valentina Vorster
Valentina 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 was a part-time violin teacher at Beau Soleil Music Centre in 2010, as well as a full-time violin and viola teacher, the conductor of the Senior String orchestra and the 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.
Valentina is the founder and the leader of the Da Cape’O String Quartet (formerly known as The Rainbow Exchange String Quartet).
