The 17th Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF) is set to take place later this year from Friday July 1 to Sunday July 10 at the Stellenbosch Konservatorium.
“Whilst still in the midst of the pandemic, but in positive anticipation that we will indeed wrestle it into submission, the management of the SICMF is moving forward with cautious optimism in soliciting student entries for the 2022 festival,” says Dr Peter Martens, SICMF Director.
After a run of 16 consecutive years as a major event on the educational and entertainment calendar in the Western Cape, Covid-19 forced the cancellation of both the 2020 and 2021 SICMF events.
“Pre Covid, the SICMF attracted around 300 students annually of which around 80% were from South Africa (all nine provinces) and 20% from abroad. Nina Schumann, the SICMF Artistic Director, hand-picks the international faculty comprising some of the world’s finest musicians,” says Dr Martens.
He adds that plans are now on track to continue this classical music extravaganza with much-loved artists from former years keen to perform, teach and inspire on local stages again.
“Madeline Adkins, Alissa Margulis and Nicholas Dautricourt (violin), Gareth Lubbe (viola), Marco Silva (trumpet), Demarre McGill (flute) and Weston Sprott (trombone) are amongst those from the USA, France, Germany and Portugal that have crept into the hearts of the South African students and audience members alike.
Alongside new faces including Knut-Erik Sundquist (double bass), and Kyril Zlotnikov (cello), these artists are amongst those already signed up for the July spectacular.”
The public is invited to the various evening performances with tickets available from Computicket, with sales opening on Sunday May 1 on this online platform.
Festival passes which give access to attend lunch hour concerts, masterclasses, talks and concerts can be booked at, www.sicmf.co.za/ and students are invited to enroll online at www.sicmf.co.za
