Soloists ‘09
Playing the Weber Clarinet Concerto No.2 with the National Youth Orchestra
- Junnan Sun
Junnan Sun was the winner of the woodwind category of the ABSA National Youth Music Competition in Port Elizabeth in 2006. In 2007 he passed the Royal Schools Grade 8 exam and matriculated at Pretoria Boys’ High School with Honours in music. In 2008 he was the winner of the Pretorium Trust Bursary Competition at the University of Pretoria. He was also the winner of the woodwind category before taking the overall Ronnie and Rhona Lubner Music Solo Competition title which was run as part of the 2008 Sasol National Youth Orchestra course. His win offered him the opportunity to perform with this year’s Sasol National Youth Orchestra. As a result of his achievement, he performed on Weekend Live, the popular SABC TV2 show. Sun has also appeared as soloist with the University of Pretoria Symphony Orchestra and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
Junnan Sun’s wide-ranging music expertise takes him with equal facility from classical music to jazz as well as traditional Chinese music — he plays the hulusi and bawu.
- Laura Pauna and Cara Hesse
Cara Hesse and Laura Pauna are quickly establishing themselves as one of the most promising and captivating young piano duos. They have received highest critical acclaims throughout three continents and have been praised for their “…nothing other than formidable virtuosity.” (”Die Burger”), highly successful and sensitive musical collaboration and “very tight teamwork” that features them among the top of professional duo players.
Laura Pauna and Cara Hesse have been playing together as a professional piano duo for over 9 years. Their recent performances brought them to countries like Germany, Austria, South Africa, Poland, Italy, Israel and the USA and to such prestigious venues as the Jerusalem Theatre, Carnegie Hall (NY), the Z.K. Mathews Hall in Pretoria, Cape Town City Hall, Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg, Mozarteum Grosser Saal in Salzburg and the Yamaha Artist;s Services’ Yasi Piano Salon in New York, the National Art Gallery in Oslo and the Steinway Gallery in Hannover.
Their engagements for the 2008-2009 season include touring Germany, South Africa and the United States.
Cara and Laura are the winners of IBLA Grand Prize 2006, the 3rd prize at the “Valentino Bucchi” two piano competition in Rome (2006), laureates of the ATKV-Musiq chamber music competition in South Africa from 2001- 2004.
In 2007 they won the annual prize of the ´Mozarteum Sommerakademie´ in Salzburg that led to their invitation to perform during the Salzburger Festspielen that earned them rave reviews. Shortly after they took 1st prize and further special prizes at the ´Grieg´ International competition for two pianos in Oslo. As a result of the two latter prizes, they appeared at the Oslo-Grieg festival, and at the opening concert of the Mozarteum Internationale Sommerakademie in Salzburg, performing the Mozart concerto in E flat for two pianos.
Currently based in Germany, the South African piano duo counts among the most talented and prominent musicians of their native country, where they have performed as soloists with all the major orchestras of South Africa from 1993- 2004. They are the first piano duo team from South Africa that ever obtained a Bachelor of Music degree and a Performance Licentiate from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and The University of South Africa (UNISA), respectively. During their studies in South Africa Hesse and Pauna have received numerous awards and prizes from UCT, such as the Leonard Hall memorial prize (2003), the A. Persuer bursary (2003) and the first prize at the Eric Chisholm Centenary competition (2004) .They also received the Sarah Lahat prize for duo piano at theTel-Hai International Piano Master Classes in 2005. Cara & Laura are also the recipients of a bursaries from the Oscar & Vera Ritter-Stiftung (2008), The National Arts Council of South Africa (2008), and the Otillie-Selbach-Redslob-foundation (2009), of Berlin.
After completing their studies for the ‘Artists diploma’ with highest distinction at the renowned Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Cara Hesse & Laura Pauna have entered the “Soloklasse” at the same school, with Einar Steen-Nøkleberg and piano duo, Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg, as their teachers.
Performing “There’s a Time for Us” from Romeo+Juliet the movie, arranged by Stephen Phillips, with the National Youth String Orchestra
Tinus Botha
Tinus Botha has received many scholarships and prizes, including the silver medal at the Hennie Joubert National Piano Competition for high school students in Wellington (1994), the UNISA South African Music Scholarship (1995), the prestigious D.J. Roode Overseas Scholarship (1996) and the Gertrude Buchanan Prize (1998). Tinus was also a finalist and prizewinner in the first Nederburg South African National Piano Competition (1998), and has performed as soloist with the Artium Orchestra, CAPAB orchestra, Pro Musica orchestra, NAPOP orchestra, University of Pretoria Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. In addition to this he has performed as member of the NAPOP orchestra in works such as the Shostakovich 5th Symphony, the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony and the Copland Clarinet Concerto.
During his studies in South Africa, Tinus obtained a performer’s licentiate from Trinity College in London, as well as performer’s and teacher’s licentiates from UNISA, all with distinction. In 1998 he graduated from the University of Pretoria with a BMus (Cum Laude) as a student of Joseph Stanford. He has also recorded for SABC radio and television
Tinus has participated in master classes with renowned teachers such as Andzrej Jasinski, Maria Gineva, Gustavo Romero, Martino Tirimo, Fabio Bidini, Russell Sherman and Zhou Guangren, among others. In 1999 he was one of 10 young pianists worldwide chosen to attend the summer festival of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, as a full scholarship student of Jerome Lowenthal (Juilliard School of Music). In January 2000 he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, to pursue his studies under the tutelage of renowned pianists José Feghali and Harold Martina. During this time he was the recipient of numerous scholarships and prizes, including the Lili Kraus scholarship at Texas Christian University. In his capacity as accompanist at TCU he had the opportunity to work with various instrumentalists and singers, and accumulated a vast repertoire of lieder and instrumental works.
On his return to South Africa in 2003 he was appointed official accompanist at the University of Pretoria. In this capacity he accompanied in master classes by various visiting artists, and also gained experience as répétiteur in the music department’s production of Mozart’s opera Bastien und Bastienne. He also gave the world premiéres of 5 new South African compositions: Alexander Johnson’s Incantation for Solo Piano (a piece dedicated to him), Stefans Grové’s Concertino for piano and Chamber Orchestra, Projection and Reflection for alto saxophone and piano, Aus dem stillen Welt von Gestern for clavichord and Conversations for organ and piano. He has recently been engaged to perform Stefans Grové’s Raka with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra (November 2008).
As research assistant to dr. Alexander Johnson he was actively involved in the launch of the University of Pretoria’s dictionary website on South African composers (www.sacomposers.up.ac.za). He is regularly invited to teach at the University’s biannual music enrichment course for teachers (2004 – 2006), and has presented guest lectures in piano didactics and music theory at the same institution.
He performs widely as a soloist and accompanist, and has appeared in many cities in South Africa and the United States, such as Pretoria, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Fort Worth, Houston, Chicago, Santa Barbara and Miami, among others. As a concerto soloist he has worked with conductors such as Alan Solomon, Eric Rycroft, Christopher Dowdeswell, Richard Cock and Weiss Doubell. He has a special interest in accompanying and chamber music, and has participated in the annual Mimir Chamber Music Festival in Fort Worth (2002), where he performed Dvorak’s Piano Quintet Op. 81 at the gala concert. He was invited to serve as one of the official accompanists at the 2006 Unisa International Singing Competition.
He is an active and enthusiastic teacher, having been on the teaching staff of the Arlington Heights Music Academy (USA), the Master’s Touch School of Music (USA), the Preparatory Division of Texas Christian University (USA), and most recently the Arts Academy of Pro Arte – Alphenpark High School and Beaulieu College. Many of his students participate and win prizes in music competitions and concerto festivals on local and national level.
In April 2008, his formal studies are concluded with the conferral of the DMus (Performing Arts) degree by the University of Pretoria. Tinus is a member of the South African Society of Music Teachers, as well as the Society for Music Theory (U.S.A.).
