The Free State Symphony Orchestra will begin 2016 with a concert in the Sand du Plessis theatre on Saturday 13 February. The programme will include the impressive Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, op. 102 (Brahms) with the South African-born violinist Pieter Schoeman and the cellist Anmari van der Westhuizen as soloists and the Symphony No. 2 D-major op. 43 (Sibelius). The conductor will be Alexander Fokkens.
Pieter Schoeman was appointed as concertmaster of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008. Born in South Africa, Pieter made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall.
As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Anmari van der Westhuizen was appointed adjunct professor in cello at the UFS and cellist of the Odeion String Quartet in 2008.
Anmari is the winner of the ATKV Forte Competition, the SABC Competition, the Oude Meester Competition and the University of Natal 75th Anniversary Prize. She was an invitee with current concertmaster of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter Schoeman, to the International Youth Music Festival held at Interlochen, U.S.A.
Anmari made several CD recordings and her solo CD including works by Roelof Temmingh and Egon Wellesz was well received by the Austrian Magazine for New Music. Anmari has more than thirty years of experience as principal cellist of orchestras and string ensembles. She was the conductor/ director of the UCT String Ensemble for ten years and is currently conductor of the Odeion Sinfonia and co-conductor of the FSYO. She is a founding member of the UCT Trio, the Collage Ensemble and I Grandi Violoncellisti.
Tickets are available at Pacofs 051 447 7771/2 www.pacofs.co.za
R150 Adults, R100 pensioners, R50 students and R100 for groups of 10 or more.
For more information contact Ella Kotze 051 401 2342 www.fsso.org.za
