Makhathini holds last concert as he leaves Fort Hare

Renowned jazz maestro Mduduzi Makathini had left Fort Hare University for a new stint in KZN.

To capture it off, he recently held his last concert at the institution.

Fea­tur­ing Jacques du Plessis, Angela Kobus, Hay­ley White and Jo Stem­met, Sym­phony of Keys sees a range of orches­tral music classics presen­ted on stage with a simple setup of four key­boards and eight hands.


 

“It was such fun the first two times and it was so well received,” says White, who teaches vari­ous instru­ments and music as a sub­ject at Hud­son Park High School.

“People kept ask­ing us when we’d do another show, so here we are.”

Du Plessis says the volume of music writ­ten for four pian­ists is another factor that makes the group eager to per­form more con­certs.

“There’s a lot of music writ­ten for eight hands and we could keep going forever,” said Du Plessis, who teaches at Stirl­ing High School.

“Because there is such a wide range of com­pos­i­tions, we’re play­ing all new music in this show and I think, at least for me, it has been the most chal­len­ging of the three con­certs so far.”

Com­pris­ing a col­lec­tion of music that spans four cen­tur­ies, Sym­phony of Keys Opus 3 includes com­pos­i­tions from Dahl, Beeth­oven, Holst, Bach and oth­ers.

“It’s the first time we’re doing music from the baroque period so that’s been quite chal­len­ging; all the pieces are quite hec­tic. We’re present­ing a vast range of styles.

“We wanted vari­ety so we have a good mix of dif­fer­ent styles. Every piece has its own mood,” Du Plessis explained.

For White, Stem­met and Kobus , one of their favour­ite com­pos­i­tions to per­form is Danse Macarbe.

“It’s a really fun piece to play. It’s about Death call­ing people from their graves to dance at mid­night.

“I think for us three it’s between that and the Holst, but Jacques [Du Plessis] loves Bach because Bach is a genius,” Stem­met, who is the Sel­borne Col­lege

“We’re play­ing all new music in this show and I think, at least for me, it has been the most chal­len­ging of the three con­certs so far.”