Art Song recital: If I ...

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Old Nectar Concerts welcomes mezzo soprano Minette du Toit-Pearce and pianist Pieter Grobler for an Art Song recital with the programme entitled ‘If I…’ at Old Nectar gardens historic wine cellar in Jonkershoek.

Domenick Argento’s Pulitzer Prize-winning setting of extracts from Virginia Woolf’s diary sets the tone for an Art Song recital exploring the most personal thoughts of three poets. The popular musical styles of Madeleine Dring and Lori Laitman create a direct emotional connection with John Betjeman and Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Argento’s mammoth cycle on the other hand uses realism as a compositional technique (ranging between atonality, serialism, romanticism or even contemporary lighter styles) to vividly explore Woolf’s tender memories of family, irreverent observations on personalities, of anxiety, war, hope and dark humour.

Minette du Toit-Pearce, head of the Singing Division at Stellenbosch University, began her vocal training under the tutelage of Dr Magdalena Oosthuizen at Stellenbosch University, graduating with BMus, BMus (Hons) and MMus degrees. She also holds a Teacher’s and Performance Licentiate from UNISA. Minette regularly performs as a soloist in oratorios and recitals and is an accomplished singer of lieder both locally and abroad. She has performed with all major orchestras in South Africa and made her American debut as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis in 2018.

Pieter Grobler is an Associate Professor of piano at Stellenbosch University, where he lectures in piano performance, chamber music, vocal accompaniment and repertoire studies. Pieter completed his undergraduate studies with Joseph Stanford at the University of Pretoria and postgraduate studies with Joseph Banowetz at the University of North Texas in the USA, where he completed the MM and DMA piano performance degrees. Grobler, has been described as a performer with “finesse, sensitivity and a flawless sense of the classical style”. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician all over South Africa, in the USA, Canada, China and Bulgaria. 

Join us on Sunday 9 June 2024 at 3pm for a carefully curated recital that was awarded a prize for Best Classical Music performance at the 2023 Woordfees arts festival in Stellenbosch. Young Artists Jason September, tenor, and pianist Rayno Booysen will also perform a short curtain raiser.

Tickets are R200 per person and include selected wines from Banhoek’s renowned Oldenburg Wine Estate and finger food at interval. Student / learner tickets are offered at R50 per concert. Guests are invited to come early or stay after the concert to enjoy the tranquility of the Old Nectar gardens.

PROGRAMME

LORI LAITMAN Four Dickinson Songs

MADELEINE DRING from Five Betjeman Songs

DOMINICK ARGENTO From the Diary of Virginia Woolf

DIRECTIONS