VC concert

In keeping with the UCT Month of Heritage and its own theme of Music of South Africa, last week's Vice-Chancellor's Concerts paid tribute to local sounds, talent and composers, staff and students from UCT's SA College of Music (SACM) doing the honours. The UCT Choir kicked things off with the national anthem, and they were followed by Assoc Profs Franklin Larey and François du Toit on piano, performing improvisations of three Dutch folk songs by the late SACM lecturer Arnold van Wyk. Then Prof Peter Klatzow accompanied soprano Pretty Yende - a rising star in the SACM ranks - as she sang three songs by Princess Mntwana Magogo, the daughter of the Zulu king Dinuzulu KaCetshwayo. Student Ross Johnson and his marimba band amaAmbush then raised the tempo with their lively pieces, two traditional works (one being Pepsi Cola) and two of Johnson's own compositions, including Ross' Song.