UNISA NATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Durban-based pianists Burton Naidoo and Melvin Peters are among the adjudicators for the immensely popular final round of the Unisa National Piano Competition It will take place on July 26, 2019, at 19h00 in the ZK Matthews Great Hall in Pretoria.

The fourth and last round of the exciting event will feature two young classical pianists and two young jazz pianists. They will perform with the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, conducted by Richard Cock and a rhythm section consisting of bassist Amaeshi Ikechi and drummer Rob Watson respectively.

The competition starts with Round 1 of the Classical Category on July 19 at 10h30, followed by Round 1 of the Jazz Category on July 20 at 14h00.

Tickets for Rounds 1 to 3 will only be sold at the door. Final round tickets are sold at Computicket.

Ten distinguished South African pianists and piano educators have been selected to adjudicate the two categories. Catherine Foxcroft (Grahamstown), Megan-Geoffrey Prins (Cape Town), Ben Schoeman (Pretoria), Nina Schumann (Stellenbosch) and Elna van der Merwe (Stellenbosch) are the adjudicators for the Classical Category. Bokani Dyer (Johannesburg), Andrew Lilley (Cape Town), Nduduzo Makhathini (East London), Burton Naidoo (Durban) and Melvin Peters (Durban) will adjudicate the Jazz Category.

Unisa sponsors the competition with prize money totalling R280,000.

The competitors in the Jazz Category are Eaton Clapper (25, Pretoria), Teboho Kobedi (26, Pretoria), Thabiso Mfana (25, Pretoria), Siphephelo Ndlovu (25, Johannesburg), Ntando Ngcapu (28, Pretoria) and Obakeng Thamage (21, Krugersdorp).

The competitors in the Classical Category are André Breet (24, Krugersdorp), Willem de Beer (27, Pretoria), Lourens Fick (28, Paarl), Sulayman Human (26, Dysselsdorp), Roelof Temmingh (23, Stellenbosch), Caron Tremble (23, Cape Town), Jolandi Schaap (20, Pretoria), Rosie Lemmer (20, Pretoria), and Lezanti van Sittert (23, Pretoria).

The performance schedule for Round 1 are available on the Unisa Music Foundation’s website www.unisa.ac.za/musicfoundation