Rising talent to shine at 6th SA Conductors’ Competition

Presented by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), the event aims to spotlight South Africa’s most promising emerging conductors.

Internationally acclaimed conductor Maestro Arjan Tien will lead masterclasses for the seven semi-finalists at the Baxter Concert Hall. This year’s participants include Jason Atherton and Stuart Martin (both from Stellenbosch), Joshua Louis and Damian Philander (Cape Town), Chevonne Plaatjies (Pretoria), Lesedi Sibanda (Johannesburg), and Grant Snyman (Gqeberha).

A panel of esteemed judges—Tien, Bernhard Gueller, Richard Cock, Jeremy Silver, and CPO CEO Louis Heyneman—will select three finalists to conduct the CPO in the final concert, taking place at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre on 4 May at 7pm. The performance will be livestreamed to a wider audience.

Each finalist will conduct a movement from a symphony by Beethoven, Mozart, or Mendelssohn, as well as a movement from either Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 or Koussevitsky’s Double Bass Concerto. These performances will feature CPO principal players Shannon Thebus and Roxane Steffen. Alternatively, finalists may conduct an operatic aria by Rossini, performed by soprano Brittany Smith.

The competition winner will receive a cash prize and an opportunity to study abroad under Maestro Arjan Tien, continuing a tradition established during the competition’s earlier incarnation as the Len van Zyl Conductors’ Competition. Past winners include Brandon Phillips, Chad Hendricks, Schalk van der Merwe, and Jacobus de Jager.

While judges deliberate, Liam Burden will take to the podium to conduct the orchestra in a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol.