Avigail Bushakevitz (violin) and her brother, Ammiel (piano) are teaming up in Cape Town to play Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for Violin and Piano with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert will take place under the direction of Dutch conductor Arjan Tien on Thursday, August 22, at 20:00 at the Cape Town City Hall.
Also on the programme are Weber Oberon overture and the Pastoral Symphony by Beethoven, no 6 in F.
Ms Bushakevitz, who has appeared on four continents with her brother, completed her B Mus and M Mus at at prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York, having studied in Cape Town with Jack de Wet. She has performed with the various orchestras in Europe at illustrious concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Royal Albert Hall in London with Sir Mark Elder in the BBC Proms. Amongst her prizes are first prize in the UNISA National Strings Competition 2009, as well as the special prizes for the best interpretation of a Bach Solo Sonata and the best third round recital. In 2012 she won the SAMRO Foundations 2012 Overseas Scholarships Competition.
Amongst the festivals at which she has performed are the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and the Heifetz International Music Institute in New Hampshire. She was concertmistress of the Britten-Pears Orchestra in Aldeburgh, England, in 2011 and the Aldeburgh World Orchestra this year.
Ammiel Bushakevitz is currently studying at the Conservatoire Nationale Supérior de Musique in Paris. He regularly performs throughout Europe and recently released his first CD, supported by the International Richard Wagner Society. He performs worldwide as soloist and chamber musician in centres such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, London, New York, Paris, Rome, Tel-Aviv, Vancouver, Vienna and Zurich. Festival appearances include the Festival d’Automne à Paris (France, with the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris); the Hirschberger Musiksommer (Germany); the Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees (South Africa), the Heidelberger Fruhling festival (Germany) and the Bayreuth Festival of 2012. His awards include the DAAD International Scholarship for Artists, European Union Commission Award, International Richard Wagner Prize and International Schubert Institute Award. He has received mentorship from many legendary voices including the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Thomas Hampson, Mimi Coertse, Barbara Bonney, Elly Ameling and Teresa Berganza. In 2011, he was invited by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to be the pianist at his masterclasses at the Universitat der Künste in Berlin and at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade in Austria. Since his orchestral debut at the age of 16, playing Tchaikovsky’s 3rd piano concerto with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, he has appeared as soloist with numerous European orchestras and with every professional orchestra in South Africa
TICKETS: R130 to R195 available from Computicket and Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695. There are also R70 platform seats available 30 minutes before the concert.
NOTE: Thursday 15 August concert at 8pm at the City Hall is with Conductor Arjan Tien with Soloist the multi-award winning Russian violinist Segei Malov playing the Shostakovitch Violin Concero No.1
