Anzél Gerber and Ben Schoeman, both renowned soloists and international prize winners, will perform at Unisa on Sunday 23 June at 16:00 in the ZK Matthews Great Hall in Muckleneuk.
The programme consists of three sonatas for cello and piano and a set of variations.
This virtuoso and imaginative work of Martin? shows influences of earlier masters such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann.
It is followed by the Sonata in D minor by the French composer Claude Debussy.
The Variations on a theme by Rossini, a virtuoso and imaginative work of Bohuslav Martin? is based on the aria Dal tuo stellate soglio from the opera Mosé in Egitto by Rossini.
The last work on the programme is the Sonata in G minor, Op.19 by Sergei Rachmaninov.
Anzél Gerber and Ben Schoeman both hail from Pretoria. They have been performing together since 2009.
In 2012 they were the top prize winners of the Ibla Grand Prize International Music Competition in Italy, with their debut in Carnegie Hall, New York, scheduled for May 2014.
On 1 July the duo will perform at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. The performance will take place at 13h00 in the Rhodes Chapel. For this concert Gerber and Schoeman chose to perform the Sonata by R. Strauss, the Martin? Variations on a theme of Rossini, the Rachmaninov sonate and Popper’s Elfentanz (Dance of the Elves).
Tickets for the concert in Pretoria are sold at the door for R90 (adults) and R70 (students and pensioners). Ample free parking is available on the Unisa Muckleneuk Campus
Anzél Gerber
Praised by various critics for her ability to capture the audience through her mature artistic approach, extraordinary musicality and inimitable technique, Anzél Gerber is increasingly performing on internationally renowned stages.
Anzél Gerber’s art as cellist has been shaped by Russia’s most prominent teachers and soloists, starting with three years under Alexander Fedortchenko in Spain, followed by two years’ tuition with Alexander Kniazev at the Moscow State Conservatory. Later, as part of her PhD in Music Performance at the University of London, she pursued her studies under Russia’s legendary cello teacher, Natalia Shakhovskaya.
As cellist today, she is a dedicated exponent of the Russian school and is deeply rooted in its discipline, as established by Mstislav Rostropovich and perpetuated through Dr Gerber’s teachers – all of which have been either associates or students of this great master musician.
She received her first lessons at the age of four in Pretoria. Her first teacher was Glenda Piek, later followed by Marian Lewin. Under Lewin’s tutelage she won several music competitions and scholarships, which enabled her to further her studies abroad.
In the course of her training as musician, Dr Gerber received guidance from David Geringas, Karine Georgian, Ralph Kirshbaum and Maxim Vengerov. She also attended master classes by Mstislav Rostropovich, Natalia Gutman, Heinrich Schiff, Bernard Greenhouse, Gary Hoffman, Maria Kliegel, Young-Chang Cho, Philippe Muller and Julius Berger.
As soloist she has collaborated with numerous conductors, including Gérard Korsten, Guido Ajmone-Marsan, David Tidboald, Leslie B Dunner, Christopher Dowdeswell, Robert Maxym, Gordon Hunt, Richard Cock and Hector Hevia.
She regularly performs with the renowned pianist Ben Schoeman. The duo received the “Baronessa Constanza Arezzo Giampiccolo di Donnafugata IBLA Award” as overall winners of the IBLA Grand Prize International Music Competition in Italy in 2012. In addition, they received a special “Debussy award” for their rendering of the Debussy sonata for cello and piano.
Apart from her performance career, Dr Gerber is a dedicated lecturer and researcher. She received her PhD in Music (Performance) from Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2008. Her doctoral research entitled Critical success factors in cello training is a comparative study on cello training in Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Her keen interest in the field of gifted music education, served as inspiration for her postdoctoral research entitled Gifted music education: an international perspective, at Temple University, Philadelphia in the United States of America from 2009 to 2010. She gave master classes at the Beijing Central Music Conservatory and is passionate about teaching. She will serve on the faculty for the International Music Academy in Cremona, Italy during July 2013. She is a lecturer in cello performance and methodology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Dr Gerber plays on a cello made by Antonio Gagliano (Napoli ca. 1820), on loan to her from the Maggini Foundation in Switzerland.
Ben Schoeman
Ben Schoeman is regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost pianists. He has won major prizes, including the first grand prize in the 11th UNISA International Piano Competition, Pretoria (2008 – sponsored by Vodacom), first prize and gold medal in the Royal Overseas League Music Competition, London (2009) and the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music (2011). Mr. Schoeman was also awarded the KykNet Fiesta and Kanna Awards in recognition of his performances of Liszt’s music during the bicentenary of the composer (2011).
He has given solo, chamber music and concerto performances throughout Europe, Canada and South Africa in such prestigious concert halls as the Wigmore, Barbican, Cadogan and Queen Elizabeth Halls in London, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Paleis het Loo in the Netherlands, the Gulbenkian Auditorium in Lisbon, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, the Cape Town City Hall and the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest.
He has performed at major festivals in the United Kingdom (City of London, Edinburgh Fringe, King’s Lynn and Chester Festivals), Italy (Festival da Bach à Bartók and Festival Mario Ghislandi), South Africa (Grahamstown and Klein Karoo National Arts Festivals), and Canada (Ottawa Chamber Music Festival).
Schoeman recently performed Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand as well as Tchaikovsky’s Concerto no. 1 with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Hall in London. During the 6th Cape Town International Summer Music Festival in 2012 he gave critically-acclaimed performances of Liszt’s Piano Concertos nos. 1 and 2 with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and these concerts were broadcast on South African national television.
He has collaborated with celebrated conductors, including Yasuo Shinozaki, En Shao, James Judd, Diego Masson, Nicholas Cleobury, Gérard Korsten, Vincent de Kort and Conrad van Alphen.
In 2012, along with duo-partner cellist Anzél Gerber, he was awarded the first prize in the Ibla Grand Prize Competition in Sicily. As part of this prize the duo will give a debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 2014.
Ben Schoeman studied at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), the Accademia Pianistica ‘Incontri col Maestro’ in Imola (Italy), the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (United Kingdom) and the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Italy). His teachers include Joseph Stanford, Michel Dalberto, Louis Lortie, Boris Petrushansky, Ronan O’Hora and Elisso Virsaladze. He is currently completing a doctoral dissertation on the piano music of South African composer Stefans Grové at City University, London.
His debut solo album, featuring works of Franz Liszt, was released in 2011 under the TwoPianists label (sponsored by Standard Bank) and was nominated for a South African Music Award in 2012. Schoeman’s DVD recording of concertos by Mozart and Tchaikovsky with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa was released by Salon music and UNISA. He received the Laureate Award from the University of Pretoria for his contribution to music in South Africa. Ben Schoeman gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the National Research Foundation.