Springs-born music composer Peter James Leonard Klatzow died on December 29 at the age of 76.
During his career, Klatzow was one of the most influential and celebrated composers of his time, with his music being performed in many parts of Europe and America.
Klatzow was born in 1945 in a Jewish household to Cyril and Winfred Klatzow who were successful business people in Springs.
His natural musical talents were recognised by his family at an early age and he began training at the Roman Catholic convent of Saint Imelda in Brakpan at the age of five.
He graduated from St Martin’s School, Rosettenville, after which he taught music and Afrikaans at Waterford Kamhlaba School in Swaziland.
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After being awarded a composition scholarship from the South African Music Rights Scholarship, Klatzow moved to London, England, and studied at the Royal College of Music for a year in 1964.
There, Klatzow studied under some of the most influential classical musicians of his time, including Gordon Jacob, Kathleen Long and Bernard Steven.
During his stay at the college, Klatzow won several awards for his composition including the coveted Royal Philharmonic prize.
Before returning to South Africa, he studied in Italy under the tutelage of French composer Nadia Boulanger.
Klatzow was highly revered in South Africa, working at the SABC in Johannesburg in 1966 and was appointed to the South African College of Music in Cape Town in 1973.
In 1986, he was elected to the rank of Fellow of the University of Cape Town for “having performed original distinguished academic work of such quality as to merit special recognition”.
During his acclaimed career, Klatzow won many international awards, including the 1977 International Composers’ Competition and twice the winner of the Helgard Steyn award.
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His work has been performed in many prestigious venues across Europe and America.
Klatzow’s major works include a full-length ballet based on the Shakespeare play Hamlet, which earned him a special Nederburg prize, scores for ballets on Drie Diere en Vier Gebede and concertos for various solo instruments piano, clarinet, organ, marimba, and a double concerto for flute and marimba, which was performed at Yale University, USA.
In 1999, he was awarded a doctorate of music by the University of Cape Town and in 2011, he was given the Huberte Rupert Music Prize by the Academy of Science of South Africa for his lifetime work.
Even later in his life, accolades and awards continued pouring in for Klatzow, with him winning the Helgard Steyn prize in 2014 (worth R520 000) for his work Lightscapes.
In 2015, he was appointed composer in residence for the 2015 Johannesburg International Mozart Festival.
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