January 18, 2005
By Tabisa Mntengwana
EVERY Friday at lunchtime, workers in Sandton can escape the hurly-burly and relax to the sounds of classical music at the Sandton Civic Gallery, just off Nelson Mandela Square.
For an hour on Friday January 14, the young violinist Se-Yun Kwon and the pianist Anneke Lamont transported the 70 members of the audience away from their day-to-day tasks on a musical journey through the works of Bach, Chopin and Beethoven.
The lunchtime concerts, titled Music in the Gallery, are popular with locals.
In 1993 Rita van den Heever started the soirees in collaboration with the City of Johannesburg, which used to pay for and organise the musicians.
However, financial constraints led to their demise for more than three years.
But in May 1998 Ian Dunbar and Piet Gernaat decided to reintroduce the Music in the Gallery concerts with donations from classical-music lovers.
"When the municipality decided to close the concert we started to organise concerts from our own pockets and from donations we received from music lovers," said Gernaat.
Now they are a regular feature of Fridays in Sandton.
Sixteen-year-old Se-Yun, an award-winning violinist, performed to standing ovations on 14 January.
"The boy is talented and is using his talent well. We're happy to have him play for us today," said Gernaat.
Se-Yun, who started playing at the age of three, has won many music awards - including the National Incheon Violin Competition and the Korean Times Junior Competition in 1996, and the Korean Tchaikovsky Competition in 1997.
Se-Yun came to South Africa in 2003 to study music at the Pro Arte Alphen Park School in Pretoria.
He has played in the Unisa Music Foundation and Simfonia Juventi orchestras, and won awards for the best programme and best concerto in the 2004 Eisteddfod.
And the South African Society of Music Teachers awarded him a scholarship to study in Michigan for a year.
"I am happy to have won this scholarship. When I come back from the US, I want to show South Africa what I have learnt," said Se-Yun.
He was accompanied by pianist Anneke Lamont, a lecturer at the University of Pretoria. Lamont, who also performs as a soloist, is the official accompanist for the Unisa / Transnet Music Foundation.
Simone Denver, a music lover, said: "Lamont is my favourite pianist and I love to listen to her play. As for Se-Yun, I can see he's going somewhere. It's a good thing that he's playing along with the best artists in South Africa."
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