Songmakers' Guild
Composition Competition
Prize-winners concert 2023
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The South African Composers' Symposium is proud to host the 2023 Songmakers' Guild Composition Competition. This collaborative project will culminate in the performance of five new song cycles on Thursday 21 September at the Endler Hall, Konservatorium. The winners will receive cash prizes up to the value of R17500, and a potential publishing agreement with Flat Mountain Project.
Throughout their existence, the Songmakers' Guild have made a lasting impact on vocal music and art song in South Africa, and now their contributions also span to the creation of a new body of works by local emerging and established composers in local languages. |
Composer finalists
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Morné van der Westhuyzen enrolled at the Drakensberg Boys' Choir School in 2013, and continued studying piano at the University of Pretoria under Dr. Brian Wallick in his high school years. He is currently a permanent performing arts teacher in Centurion. He accompanies for various choirs in the province, including Canendo Project Choir, Kempton Park Hoërskool, Impala Laerskool, Springvale Primary School, and Pretoria High School for Girls. In addition to teaching, Westhuyzen is a church organist in Waterkloof. He has competed in composing competitions such as the 2021 University of Pretoria School of Arts Call for scores and the 2022 Stefan Grove National Composition Competition.
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South African Mythologies (Song Cycle No. 2), with 1. Impundulu, 2. The Flying Dutchman, 3. Tokoloshe.
Myths in general are described to be stories told about a specific person or culture. The South African Mythologies is rich and diverse, drawing from various cultures including Zulu, Xhosa, and San. They tell stories of powerful deities, ancestral spirits, and legendary creatures. These myths are integral to the nation's heritage, offering insights into its history, beliefs, and cultural tapestry. The music sets the atmospheric mood through the piano, with a quasi-recitativo baritone line. A motive that can be heard in the Tokoloshe and Impundulu is by listening for a parallel Major part with a double harmonic scale. The motive is linked to anything “Magic” related to Tagati.
Myths in general are described to be stories told about a specific person or culture. The South African Mythologies is rich and diverse, drawing from various cultures including Zulu, Xhosa, and San. They tell stories of powerful deities, ancestral spirits, and legendary creatures. These myths are integral to the nation's heritage, offering insights into its history, beliefs, and cultural tapestry. The music sets the atmospheric mood through the piano, with a quasi-recitativo baritone line. A motive that can be heard in the Tokoloshe and Impundulu is by listening for a parallel Major part with a double harmonic scale. The motive is linked to anything “Magic” related to Tagati.
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Lusibalwethu Sesanti was immersed in the world of music from birth; from very early on, she would attend choir practice after school. However, her career aspirations weren’t always what they are now: at first, Lusibalwethu wanted to pursue a career in medicine. However, her parents encouraged her to take music as a subject in Grade 8, and she complied, knowing that it would at least make her a well-rounded applicant to medical school. But, her parents knew best, and years later she’s using her talent as a member of the Cape Town Opera’s chorus. Lusibalwethu enjoys every aspect of opera, from what happens behind the scenes to moments in the spotlight, and aspires to trying her hand at costuming, composing, and more.
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Love Letters to God
I was born and raised in a Muslim household in the township formerly known as Uitenhage. My parents also encouraged me to go to church with my grandmother on Sundays and take part in our familys' ceremonies as per the traditions of our people. In this way, I have found many ways to communicate with Creator and Creation, the most personal being through writing 'love' letters. I refer to my Beloved as God, Allah (swt), Qamata, Krishna etc. This song cycle is extracted from some of these letters. There is much hidden in these letters that I myself have yet to make sense of. They are neither entirely joyful or bleak, with many a juxtaposition in thought... Much like any spoken prayer. I employ the use of isiZulu, isiXhosa as well as English and some Sanskrit within this song cycle to maintain the linguistic authenticity of my love Letters. I also am fascinated by how mixing languages in a song can enhance the sonic experience of the listener and performer.
I was born and raised in a Muslim household in the township formerly known as Uitenhage. My parents also encouraged me to go to church with my grandmother on Sundays and take part in our familys' ceremonies as per the traditions of our people. In this way, I have found many ways to communicate with Creator and Creation, the most personal being through writing 'love' letters. I refer to my Beloved as God, Allah (swt), Qamata, Krishna etc. This song cycle is extracted from some of these letters. There is much hidden in these letters that I myself have yet to make sense of. They are neither entirely joyful or bleak, with many a juxtaposition in thought... Much like any spoken prayer. I employ the use of isiZulu, isiXhosa as well as English and some Sanskrit within this song cycle to maintain the linguistic authenticity of my love Letters. I also am fascinated by how mixing languages in a song can enhance the sonic experience of the listener and performer.
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Jonathan Blair studied composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His commissions have come from The United States, Europe, South Africa and Japan. His output includes opera, concertos, chamber music, song cycles and film scores. He was a featured guest on People of Note with Rodney Trudgeon and currently studies Musicology with an emphasis in composition. Hendrik Hofmeyr remarked ‘Jonathan Blair is one of the most gifted young composers I have encountered in many years of university teaching. His works are marked by lively intellectual curiosity, mature musical insight and remarkable creative abilities.’
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Winterson is a song cycle written for the 2023 South African Composers' Symposium & Song Makers Guild. The poems were written by South African poet Stephanie Gericke, and set by composer Jonathan M. Blair, based on the final day of Racheltjie De Beer’s life. The work tries to strike a balance between the rich tradition of lieder and novel approaches to both the voice and piano, such as employing techniques and aids directly inside the piano.
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Pieter Bezuidenhout is a multi-award-winning composer, choir-conductor, instrumentalist, and producer whose musical voice has come to be recognizable as truly unique and innovative (The Sunday Times). Constantly striving to bridge the gap between the younger and older generations of musicians across the cultural spectrum, he creates without the baggage of the past (Die Beeld). Invested in the world of choral, chamber and theatre music, and published internationally by Helbling Verlag Publishers in Germany, his works have been performed on five continents. He has received awards in composition from the European Academy of Choral Music as well as the Stefans Grove Composition Award.
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HUIS VAN DIE DOWES is a three-movement Afrikaans song cycle on the poetry of Breyten Breytenbach. Each of the three movements is based on a poem from Breytenbach’s 1968 collection, Die huis van die dowe: In die huis van die dowe is die blinde koning. This song cycle explores the serialistic nature of our existence through poetry that Breytenbach wrote while he was in exile. Whilst exploring the spiritual aspects of our being in the various connections the text has with Eastern beliefs; this cycle also explores the musical dimensions that rise from its interpretations.
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Juliet Wootton is a composer and chamber musician in Cape Town, as well as a music theory and flute teacher. She graduated with her BMus in composition in 2020 at the South African College of Music. In 2022, she completed her MMus at SACM, studying art song composition and orchestration under the supervision of Professor Hendrik Hofmeyr. Her compositional interests lie in writing for the voice, specifically in the form of the art song and opera. As such, many of her works are programmatic in nature, or are inspired by written texts. Her compositions range from orchestral, to chamber, to works for solo instruments.
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Songs of Light of and Loss is a song cycle for soprano and piano, composed over the period 2021-2022. The cycle was later orchestrated for voice and small orchestra. Selected songs from the cycle were reworked for mezzo-soprano and piano. The cycle is a setting of poems from Fiona Zerbst’s fifth collection of poetry, In Praise of Hotel Rooms. In this cycle, the order of the poems is chosen to represent an interpretive narrative. Together, the poems could be interpreted to portray the dissolution of a relationship, the processing of loss and the evolution of healing.
The poems in this cycle were selected to represent moments of light and of darkness, and the transition between them within the dissolution of a love relationship. Near Odessa is a transition from light to dark, while Closer to Light represents a transition back to light. The final song, After Loss represents the darkness of a heartbreak, or loss of love. The poems were also chosen for their vivid descriptions of landscape or scenes, which could be evoked and suggested in the music.
The poems in this cycle were selected to represent moments of light and of darkness, and the transition between them within the dissolution of a love relationship. Near Odessa is a transition from light to dark, while Closer to Light represents a transition back to light. The final song, After Loss represents the darkness of a heartbreak, or loss of love. The poems were also chosen for their vivid descriptions of landscape or scenes, which could be evoked and suggested in the music.
Artists
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Magdalene Minnaar is a celebrated South African soprano, director and producer, well-known in the music industry locally and abroad for setting new trends and challenging conventional boundaries. As Soprano Magdalene has sung over 30 operatic roles, as well as the female leads in the acclaimed musicals Phantom of the Opera and Show Boat. She is a frequent soloist in performances of concerts and oratorios, notably Händel’s Messiah, Carmina Burana (Orff) and Mozart’s Requiem. Magdalene serves regularly on competition panels and juries, including the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition (South African panel) and Lav Mirski International Singing Competition. She currently holds the position of Artistic Director at Cape Town Opera and is also on the board of The Songmakers’ Guild of South Africa.
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Janelle Visagie’s already remarkable stage career started as a member of the Cape Town Opera Chorus and later their Young Artist Programme, taking up main roles in several productions including Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Verdi’s Rigoletto, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly as well as the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and the female lead in Kern’s Show Boat, the latter on tours to Sweden and France. In March 2015 Janelle was awarded the prestigious Fleur du Cap Award for best actress in a musical, and was nominated for a Naledi theatre award, for her unanimously acclaimed role as Mother Abbess in Toerien and Davis’ production of The Sound of Music, which ran extensively in Cape Town and Johannesburg as well as touring to New Zealand, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Indonesia in the following years.
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Lusibalwethu Sesanti was immersed in the world of music from birth; from very early on, she would attend choir practice after school. However, her career aspirations weren’t always what they are now: at first, Lusibalwethu wanted to pursue a career in medicine. However, her parents encouraged her to take music as a subject in Grade 8, and she complied, knowing that it would at least make her a well-rounded applicant to medical school. But, her parents knew best, and years later she’s using her talent as a member of the Cape Town Opera’s chorus. Lusibalwethu enjoys every aspect of opera, from what happens behind the scenes to moments in the spotlight, and aspires to trying her hand at costuming, composing, and more.
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Conroy Scott is a versatile musician who has performed globally, is a regular ad-hoc player with all major South African orchestras, and teaches both double bass and voice. His operatic repertoire covers an array of roles, including the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Germont in La Traviata, Doctor Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, and Lescaut in Massenet’s Manon. Conroy has appeared as bass soloist oratorios such as Mozart's Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, for which he received the Woordtrofees (2018) for best classical vocal performance, Verdi's Requiemat the 2019 Woordfees. Most recently, Conroy’s portrayal of the title role in Cape Town Opera’s 2022 production of Le nozze di Figaro earned him a Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best Performance in an Opera.
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Bongani Justice Kubheka enrolled at the University of Cape Town, where he developed as a young artist through a number of university productions and collaborations with the Cape Town Opera. He has won prizes at the Schock Foundation Prize for Singing, the Amazwi Omzansi Competition and the Stuart Burrows International Competition and was one of the 2015 Operalia finalists. Bongani moved to Cardiff to continue his vocal studies under the tutorship of Dennis O’ Neill at the Welsh International Academy of Voice, where he obtained a Master’s in Advanced Vocal Studies in 2016. He graduated shortly after from the University of Cape Town with a Postgraduate Diploma in Opera Performance in 2017. Bongani was recently awarded the 2019 Fleur du Cap award for Best Performance in an Opera for his role as Don Pasquale.
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José Dias is a regular presence in major concert halls and arts festivals in South Africa. In recent seasons, international performances have taken him to Portugal, Mozambique, Israel, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, including extensive tours of the Netherlands and Germany. José is well-respected as soloist, chamber musician and vocal accompanist and coach, and has also been the musical director of Cape Town Opera’s touring productions African Angels and African Passion, as well as Biblioteek Productions’ operatic productions including Poskantoor, La Voix Humaine and The Recycled Magic Flute. These productions and his involvement therein, have made him the recipient of several awards, from festivals such as Woordfees, KKNK, Aardklop, as well as Fiësta and Fleur du Cap Awards.
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