Conductor: Conrad
van Alphen
Soloist: Catherine
Foxcroft
Date: Saturday,
19 May 2018
Time: 19:30
Place: Odeion
School of Music, UFS
The international maestro Conrad van
Alphen enjoys standing ovations with top orchestras around the globe. He will
be conducting the Free State Symphony Orchestra together with one of South
Africa’s finest pianist Catherine Foxcroft Saturday, 19 May 19:30 at the Odeion
School of Music, UFS. The concert will open with Haydn’s L’ Isola Disabitata Overture with the rest of the programme comprising
of Beethoven’s dramatic yet pleasurable Piano
Concerto No. 3 in C minor and Bizet’s sensational Symphony 1 in C major.
Conrad van
Alphen was born in
Pretoria, South Africa, in 1963. After concentrated music studies he moved to
The Netherlands at the age of 26, where he joined the double bass section of
the Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hilversum, and the Beethoven Academie, Antwerp.
He studied conducting with Eri Klas and Roberto Benzi. At the turn of the new
millennium, Conrad founded Sinfonia Rotterdam, of which he remains chief
conductor and artistic director. The well-established Dutch/South African
conductor Conrad van Alphen has gained tremendous popularity with orchestras
and audiences alike for the manner in which he rehearses and performs.
Van Alphen is known as much for
entrepreneurial spirit and depth of preparation as he his is for performances
that combine exceptional sensitivity, vision and freshness.
He enjoys a particularly close
association with the Russian National Orchestra and is currently an artist of
the Moscow Philharmonic Society, which allows him to conduct all the major
Russian orchestras.
Hailed as one of South Africa’s most
sought after pianists, Catherine Foxcroft
combines a vibrant career in music as soloist, chamber musician, pedagogue, and
researcher. As an undergraduate student of Prof Laura Searle at UCT, she won
prizes in the SABC, ATKV and UNISA competitions and performed as soloist with
all the South African orchestras. In 1991, she won first prize in the UNISA
Overseas Scholarship Competition and the Jules Kramer Overseas Scholarship from
UCT.
Currently Head of Department and
Associate Professor at the Department of Music and Musicology Rhodes
University, Catherine performs frequently as a soloist with South African
orchestras, and appears nationally and internationally in recitals. She acts
frequently as an external examiner at SA Universities as well as the UNISA
Directorate of Music practical examinations. She has adjudicated national music
competitions such as Hennie Joubert, ATKV, Artscape, UNISA scholarship
competition, UNISA International Piano competition, and SAMRO. She has been on
the Faculty of the biennial Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium since
2006.
Tickets to the concert are available
from Computicket outlets as follows:
Adults R150
Block bookings of 10 and more people
R100
Children 3 to 18 years R50
For more information on the concert visit
www.fsso.org.za or alternatively contact
Ella Kotze on 051 401 2342.
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