Emile Maralack
A. Scriabin - Prelude for the Left Hand, Op.9 No.1
S. Prokofiev - Suggestion Diabolique, Op.4 No.4
Emile Maralack is 17 years old and lives in Gordons Bay with his musically talented family – his mother is a music teacher and his father a saxophonist and accomplished jazz pianist. Emile is in Gr11, and attends the Active Home Education homeschooling programme. His mother was his first piano teacher, but for a long while Emile did not receive formal lessons and taught himself to play his favourite piano pieces. His dad, in his turn, taught him the rudiments of saxophone playing. Since 2019 he has been a piano pupil of José Dias.
Emile loves practicing piano and watching great musical performances on YouTube, but he is also a great fan of Anime, basketball and loves exercising. He has participated in several Eisteddfods and completed various examinations always with excellent results, and has recently been pre-selected as one of the participants in the National Youth Music Competition. His favourite composer is Sergei Rachmaninoff, whose music he finds warm and full of varied, beautiful colours.
Catherine Lee
I. Albéniz - Granada (Serenade) from Suite Española Op.47
H. Villa-Lobos - O Polichinello from “A Prole do Bebê” No.1
Catherine Bi-Qing Lee (Piano), is 17 years old and a Gr11 learner at Rustenburg Girls High School. Although she excels in various subjects, she stands out at school for her countless musical activities and achievements. She takes piano lessons with Mr José Dias and double-bass lessons with Ms Zanelle Britz. She is a member of the RGHS chamber choir, orchestra and string ensemble, and has for the past few years been a member of the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. As she is a remarkable and avid sight-reader, she takes part in numerous chamber ensembles at the school and accompanies many of her colleagues at the piano.
Catherine has completed several examinations on both instruments with outstanding results and participated in various Eisteddfods throughout her school years. She is also a strong mathematician and this has taken her to many events, some overseas. In her free time, she loves reading, playing computer games and watching her favourite TV series.
Isaac van der Merwe
Sonata no. 5, C minor op.10 no.1 - I. Allegro molto e con brio - L. van Beethoven
Prelude in G minor op. 23 no. 5 – S. Rachmaninoff
Isaac started learning the piano with Tessa de Groote in 2013, and has won several exhibition awards for Trinity practical exams. In 2019 he came second in the Junior Piano Category of the Johann Vos Music Competition and he was a finalist in the Pieter Kooij in 2020.
He came first in the world for Cambridge IGCSE music in 2018 and received the high achievement award for A level music in South Africa in 2020. This year he began learning with Albie van Schalkwyk and won first prize in the Senior Piano Category of the Johann Vos.
Vivianna Pearson
Quasars in Nebulae - A. More
Fantasiestück Op. 12, no. 2. Aufschwung, Essor de L'âme - R. Schumann
Vivianna is a Grade 10 pupil at Westerford High School. She has been studying the piano since the age of 7 with Sue Paterson-Jones and she has been performing regularly from the age of 8. She has won the overall junior and senior piano sections multiple times at both the Afrikaans and English Eisteddfods and she is a regular performer at their prize giving concerts. She is a keen chamber musician and has attended both the Franschoek and Stellenbosch chamber festivals, playing both flute and piano. Vivianna was a finalist in the Johan Vos competition in 2018, 2019 and 2021, receiving second place in the Junior Section this year.
She has been a finalist in the 2019 and 2020 Pieter Kooij competitions, last year she came second overall as well as winning the prize for best Romantic performance. In 2020, Vivanna was selected to play in the Hugo Lambrechts Concerto Festival and in the Westerford Concerto Festival. Vivianna also plays the flute and cello.
Juliette Roux
Violin Sonata, g min, "Didone abbandonata", I. Affettuoso – G.Tartini,
Allegro Brillant – W. Ten Have
Juliette was a finalist in the SAMRO Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition and runner up of the strings category. Earlier this year she passed her ABRSM Grade 8 Performance exam with distinction. Juliette is currently in Grade 11 and a student of Mrs Anne-Marié Swanepoel.
Juliette fell in love with the sound of the violin from a very young age, singing along to the Schindler's List theme as a toddler. She enjoys playing the violin and finds it an outlet for creative expression.
She is also a keen young mathematician, and recently placed in the top 6 girls worldwide at the International Mathematical Olympiad. Juliette dreams of becoming an astrophysicist. When she has free time, she enjoys dancing and watching Netflix!
Mikhaila Porter
J. Haydn- Sonata in F major, Allegro Moderato
C. Debussy - Prelude 7, Book 2
Mikhaila started the piano at the age of 6 with Ilana Garlick and for the last 4 years with Sue Paterson-Jones. During her earlier years she excelled in the Cape Eistedfoddau where she received multiple awards and was a regular performer at their prize winners concerts. She is an accomplished and well-rounded musician, enjoying solo performance on both piano and flute as well as chamber music and piano duo work and she has enjoyed participating in both the Stellenbosch and Franschoek chamber music festivals. In 2019, Mikhaila won the junior division of the Johann Vos competition and came second overall in the Pieter Kooij competition.
In 2020, she was once again a finalist in the Pieter Kooij Music Competition, this time winning the prize for the best Baroque performance and performed as a soloist with the Hugo Lambrecht Orchestra in the Concerto festival. This year she came second in the senior division of the Johann Vos competition.
Keon Muller
J.S. Bach – Prelude from Suite no. 1
A. Messager – Solo de Concours
Keon is a pupil at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre where he studies the clarinet with Mrs Charlene Saayman and the Saxophone with Mr Liam Burden. In 2016 he was a Finalist at the Hugo Lambrechts 30th Anniversary Competition on Saxophone and in the same year he was the winner of the Woodwind Category at the SAMRO Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition and placed 2nd overall of the Competition in 2017. In 2017 he won the Mini Maestro’s and the Johann Vos Piccolo Competition on Clarinet.
In 2018 he won the Johann Vos Junior Wind Category on Saxophone and 2021 the Senior Wind Category on Clarinet. He participated in The National Youth Music Competition and received the Michael Masote prize for most promising candidate in the Woodwind Category. He performed as a soloist in 2017 at the Klassiek Fabriek Program and at the Greyton Music Festival with the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra on Saxophone. In 2018 he performed as a soloist at the Badisa Gala Fundraising Event. In 2019 he performed as a soloist with the CPO at the 48th Western Cape Youth Classical Festival. He is a member of the Hugo Lambrechts Senior Wind Band and the Symphony Orchestra.
Ella Schoonwinkel
J. Andersen - Serenade d'amour uit Dix Morceaux, Op 62, No 4
F. Kuhlau - Allegro con gusto uit Sonata, Op 69
Ella Schoonwinkel starts flute lessons in 2011 as a student of Jeanie Kelly at Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre. She participates in the Samro Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition from 2015 – 2018. Ella has won several awards at the Stellenbosch Kunswedstryd and in 2019 she performs at the Royal Schools High Scorer’s Concert.
Ella is a member of the Senior Wind Band, Symphony Orchestra and Senior Flute Ensemble of Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre.
Liam Slabbert
A. Vivaldi - Bassoon Concerto RV 495, ii. Largo
G. Pierné - Solo de Concert for Bassoon, op. 35
Liam Slabbert has been a student of Carin Bam since the age of 9. He has since passed all his ABRSM exams with distinction. He has been a soloist at the Hugo Lambrechts Concerto Festival 2014 ,2019 and 2021, Reunion Concert 2012, CPYO Concerto Festival 2019 and Western Cape Youth Music Festival 2020. He was a semi-finalist and runner-up in the Woodwind Category in the SAMRO, Johann Voss and Mini-Maestros Competitions. Liam was awarded various prizes at the Cape Town, Stellenbsoch and Tygerberg Eisteddfodau over the past years and he has been invited to perform at all the above Eisteddfodau Prize-giving Concerts.
In 2018 Liam was a semi-finalist in NYMC and he was awarded the prize for the Best Performance of a South African work, the runner-up prize in the Category ‘Other Instruments’ and the Shadow Jury Prize for the most promising competitor who was not a finalist. In 2019 Liam was a finalist in the NYMC and was awarded the Leon Hartshorne Prize for the Best Woodwind Instrumentalist and won the Woodwind Category Prize.
Liam is the Principal Bassoonist of the CPYO since 2019 and an Ad Hoc player for the CPO since 2019. He has recently invited to attend the NYO of Great Britain’s Inspire Spring Workshop in April where he will join 12 young bassoonists and prof Sarah Burnett for masterclasses.
Mike Wang
JS Bach - Sinfonia from Partita No. 2 in c minor
F Chopin - Polonaise in A flat major, Op 53
Mike (Zi Ning) Wang is a Grade 9 learner at Paarl Boys High School. Mike has been awarded first prizes at the SAMRO Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition, the Hennie Joubert Piano Competition, the Johann Vos Piano Competition as well as the Pieter Kooij Competition.
He has appeared as soloist with the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra in 2017 and 2018, and with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He has also appeared in solo recitals for various music festivals in South Africa. Mike is a student of Mario Nell.
