Many strings to his bow

Peter Martens, who joined the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) as Principal Cello in August after a break of 11 years, holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Cape Town and a PhD from Stellenbosch University, where he studied in his formative years with Dalena Roux. He continued his studies with Heidi Litschauer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 1993 Peter returned to South Africa and occupied principal positions in the New Arts Philharmonic Pretoria and Cape Town Philharmonic, before moving to Stellenbosch University, where he is Director of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival. He is a member of the Amici String Quartet, enjoys chamber music with among others, Leon Bosch (double bass), David Juritz (violin), Benjamin Schmid (violin) and Leslie Howard (piano), and has performed with the Brodsky String Quartet in London. Concerto engagements have resulted in collaborations with a number of fine conductors including Bernhard Gueller,  Victor Yampolsky,  Douglas Boyd, Wolfram Christ, Nicholas Cleobury and Jonas Alber. His CD with the CPO and Gueller, featuring the Cello Concertos No. 1 by both Vieuxtemps and Saint-Saëns, was released in April. Martens has recently acquired a Baroque cello, having performed with L’Orfeo Baroque in celebrating Dr Barry Smith’s 50 years of music-making in Cape Town.  He is married to the CPO’s guest concert master, Suzanne Martens.