Arts Writer
THREE brilliant young musicians have been chosen as the soloists to perform in the 3rd Len van Zyl Conductors’ Competition with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and three young conductors on the cusp of a career and who will have reached the final round. The concert is on February 14 at The City Hall at 8pm.
Jeffrey Armstrong (19), former concertmaster of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra who is in his first year at the Birmingham Conservatoire, will play the Introduction and Rondo Capriccio by Saint-Saëns; Shaheel Kooverjee (19) will play the first movement of the Second Piano Concerto no 2 in C minor by Rachmaninov, and Leo Gevisser (12), will play the first movement of the Piano Concerto in G by Ravel.
Other works on the programme are Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky Korsakov, Noon Witch by Dvorák and the overture from Tannhäuser by Wagner.
Founder of the competition Van Zyl says that the showcase provides an unparalleled opportunity for talented young conductors to have master classes and fine tune their skills.
“It is the only opportunity of its kind in SA. There were more than 30 entries this year, with eight who made it through the earlier round in June coming to Cape Town for the semi-finals. The three finalists have the opportunity to play with a first-class professional orchestra, and they accompany soloists who are amongst the up and coming stars of the future.”
The winner will leave in late February for a one-month internship with the Philadelphia Orchestra and two months with Professor Victor Yampolsky at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Brandon Phillips, the winner of the first competition and now resident conductor of the CPO, joins judges Victor Yampolsky, Bernhard Gueller and Richard Cock on the adjudication panel at the finals.
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