Chamber Music Festival celebrates 20 years

Celebrating 20 Years:

Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF) is celebrating 20 years, from Friday July 4 to Sunday July 13, at the Stellenbosch University Konservatorium.

The festival boasts the largest collective of world-renowned classical musicians at any festival on the African continent, and a number of internationally acclaimed artists have been coming to the SICMF for the better part of two decades.

The first of the Europe-based artists to serve on the faculty of the SICMF was Xandi van Dijk, who first served in 2005 at the second ever SICMF.

Xandi, then still based in South Africa, now lives in Germany and has forged a remarkable career there as conductor and violist.

In 2006, Daniel Rowland made his South African debut at the SICMF. Rowland, admired internationally for his ravishing tone and captivating performances, is a regular guest at the world’s most prestigious chamber music festivals.

And so, since 2004, the pool of SICMF invitees has grown to include the who’s who of festivals like Verbier, Salzburg and Malboro.

Those returning to SICMF this year also include Grammy award-winning conductor Michael Repper, the Strad wielding violinist, Nicolas Dautricourt, and cellist David Cohen, who in addition to forging a career as soloist and teacher, has recently been appointed as principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra. 

Siwo Kim the artistic director of VIVO Music Festival in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio first attended the SICMF in 2019, whilst Anna Vasilyeva, who hails from St Petersburg, first attended last year. 

Maya Bogdanocić will be featured this year in Saint-Saëns’ first cello concerto with the Festival Concert Orchestra. Her recently released CD of the work has been described by the critics as “a dazzling and unique performance.”

Andrey Baranov, winner of the 2012 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition, is another of the world-famous soloists invited back to SICMF 2025. 

Dwight Parry, who gave the spellbinding world premiere of Connesson’s new oboe concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2022 will be back performing this very concerto in Stellenbosch and YaoGuang Zhai, who currently serves as the principal clarinetist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will be playing the jazzy clarinet concerto by Artie Shaw.

Acclaimed flautist, Ekaterina Kornishina, who stunned audiences with her rendition of Schubert’s “Trockne Blumen” in Stellenbosch last year will also return alongside trumpet virtuoso, Marco Silva, bass-trombonist extraordinaire, Mark Hampson, and the magician of the mallets, percussionist Jauvon Gilliam.

And back by popular demand, the winner of the 2019 Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Italy, Emanuiel Ivanov, will perform Ravel’s attractive G major Piano Concerto with the Festival Symphony Orchestra.

New SICMF faculty members include Dana Zemtsova, one of the most recognized viola players of her generation and Daniel Austrich, a member of the Michelangelo String Quartet and teacher of violin and chamber music at the Hochschule Cologne. 

Zoran Marković, this year’s esteemed double bass artist, performs in his native Slovenia and abroad as a soloist with renowned orchestras and chamber musicians. South African born Ian Watson, a graduate of Stellenbosch University and participant of the very first SICMF in 2004, is now much in demand as a leading orchestral player and chamber musician in the UK. 

Bram van Sambeek, is an internationally lauded bassoon virtuoso who will feature in Nino Rota’s colourful bassoon concerto. Masterful Spanish horn player, José García Gutiérrez will also be making his SA debut at the 20th SICMF this year.

Finally, maestro Antony Hermus makes his first artistic appearance in South Africa at the helm of the Festival Symphony Orchestra this year.

A leading figure in Dutch musical life, he conducts all the major orchestras in Holland including Royal Concertgebouw, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest and Rotterdam Philharmonic. 

Visit www.sicmf.co.za for the full programme and more Information. Tickets are available at Webtickets.