Mozart Requiem on Easter Sunday (Four-hand Piano version Czerny

Mozart Requiem on Easter Sunday
(Four-hand Piano version by Carl Czerny)

Sunday 1 April 11:00 (South African Première)

Wessel van Wyk & Willem de Beer combine forces, offering you the first ever performance of this transcription to the Gauteng Public.

The four-hand piano arrangement provided a major source of home performance and enjoyment of large-scale compositions all the way through the 19th century. Having unearthed this arrangement of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, K. 626, by the still-feared-by-aspiring-pianists Carl Czerny, Brooklyn Theatre is taking another exciting step towards educating and entertaining our supporters with something as completely unusual as this. This is a nice find for lovers of Romantic pianism, for it is less a transcription than a reinterpretation of Mozart's Requiem, with much to tell listeners about just how the early 19th century heard Mozart in general. Truly great music holds its own, no matter in which guise.

Carl Czerny approaches each movement a bit differently (and he arguably improves the movements completed by Mozart's student Franz Xaver Sussmayr). There are echoes of Beethoven in the big Rex Tremendae and elsewhere, while the Benedictus seems to resemble a song by Schubert or, more likely, one of the lesser lieder composers. The Dies irae gets jaggedly ornamented lines in the pianists' right hands, with a difficulty suggesting that Czerny might have intended the work for his own use. He was a brilliant pianist who taught Liszt among others. Performances of other Classical-period choral works could easily be modelled on the moods of this piece.

The performance in Brooklyn Theatre will be enhanced by projections of visuals also including the Latin text of the Requiem translated into English.

Ticket sales:
Sunday , 1 April 11:00

Block A (Adult) - R160 Block B (Adult) - R140
Block A (Senior) - R140 Block B (Senior) - R120
Children/Student/Scholar - R120

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Brooklyn Theatre (012 460 6033)
Greenlyn Village Centre
C/o Thomas Edison and 13th Streets
Menlo Park, Gauteng, South Africa

Prof Wessel van Wyk

Wessel van Wyk is one of South Africa’s most prominent classical pianists. On completion of his music training in Vienna, Austria, having won the first prize in the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition, he returned to South Africa to establish himself as one of this country’s most active and versatile musicians.

In a career spanning three decades he has become renowned as a solo performer and as a collaborative music partner to numerous instrumentalists and singers. In 2013, he undertakes a concert tour to Australia and New Zealand as accompanist for contemporary singer Laurika Rauch. In April 2014, he partners violinist Zanta Hofmeyr in a Classic FM 102.7 Soiree entitled “Fiddler on the Screen” in Johannesburg; more recently, he accompanies soprano Hanli Stapela in a lieder recital for the Wellington Concert Series in the Cape.

He has played concertos with various orchestras under conductors such as Wolfgang Bothe, David de Villiers, Stephen J Portman, Pinchas Steinberg and Vladimir Kern. In both 2013 and 2014, he was a soloist with the UPSO & UPSW - UP Symphony Orchestra & Symphonic Winds under the batons of Eric Rycroft and Schalk van der Merwe respectively. In 2014, he performs Chopin’s first Piano Concerto with the Rand Symphony Orchestra under the Polish conductor Bernard Wozny.

Wessel’s commercial recordings are played by local radio stations frequently. His four “Piano Favourites” CD’s have become classical best sellers with volumes 2 and 3 being nominated for SAMA Awards. He is one of the eight pianists performing on the popular “Piano Extravaganza” CD that was released by SALON MUSIC under the auspices of RSG in December 2014.

Wessel obtained a DMus (Performing Arts) from UP in 2001, the first musician to receive this degree in South Africa. He is at present an Associate Professor in the Music Department of the University of Pretoria where he teaches piano and chamber music and supervises post-graduate dissertations and theses. He is frequently invited to serve as a judge for national music competitions and he is passionate about creating performance opportunities for young musicians.

Willem de Beer

Described as “mature beyond his age” and a “… bright and shining star in the firmament of the South African music scene,” by newspaper Beeld.com, Willem de Beer is quickly becoming one of the foremost South African concert pianists.

Willem de Beer was the winner of various competitions, including the largest classical music competition in South Africa, ATKV Muziq (2014); the Wakkerstroom Music Festival Bursary Competition (2015); the Philip H. Moore Competition (2013); UNISA Music Scholarship Competition (2012), where Willem also received the special prizes for the best rendering of a South African and Romantic work; the First Atterbury Teater/Theatre National Piano Competition (2011), during which Willem also received the prizes for the best rendition of a Classical and South African work; and the Arts Trust National Piano Competition (2009), where the special prizes were awarded for Willem’s rendering of a concert etude as well as concerto. Willem was also a main prize winner and the joint winner of the Piano Category at UNISA’s 120th Anniversary Bursary Concert (2014) and the runner-up at the 5th UNISA National Piano Competition (2015). He was also a finalist in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival Bursary Competition (2015). During 2016, Willem competed in the 13th UNISA International Piano Competition.

Willem has performed with various orchestras: In 2009, Willem performed with both the Free State Symphony Orchestra (conductor Christopher Dowdeswell [RSA]) and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor Arjan Tien [NED]). During 2011, he performed with the UNISA Music Foundation Orchestra under the baton of Jonas Alber (GER), and during 2013, Willem performed with the Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor Nicolas Nicolaides [RSA]) and the University of Pretoria Symphony Orchestra (conductor Prof E. Rycroft [RSA]). Throughout 2014, Willem has performed with the Gauteng Philharmonic (Alexander Fokkens [RSA]) and Pretoria Symphony Orchestra (Gerben Grooten [NED]) as well as the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lykele Temmingh. During 2015, he again performed with the PSO (Schalk van der Merwe [RSA]) and CPO, working with Daniel Boico [USA].

Willem has attended master classes with various celebrated international artists in South Africa and abroad. These artists include Jerome Lowenthal, Ramsi Yassa, Marian Rybicki, Petronel Malan, and Antonio Pompa-Baldi. During 2014, Willem received his BMus cum laude under the guidance of renowned pedagogue Joseph Stanford. He graduated as one of the best students in the whole of the Humanities Faculty. Willem is also a member of the esteemed Golden Key Honour Society for excellence in academics.

Willem has been featured on several television programs in South Africa and recordings of his playing are often broadcast on radio by stations RSG and ClassicFm. Willem has also performed for various dignitaries, most notably the King of Lesotho. Willem is married to Reneé de Beer.