PETA STEWART
It was in September 2001 that pianist Francois du Toit last played the Second Piano Concerto by Chopin, also with the Cape Town Philharmonic, and it’s a good thing that the notes remain partly in finger memory, partly in the brain.
Du Toit’s performance opens the CPO’s Spring Symphony Season at the Cape Town City Hall on 1 November 2018, and although he has had this date in his diary for months his leisure hours to practice are few and far between.
Du Toit, an associate professor who has been a lecturer at the SA College of Music at UCT since 1997, the university where he first studied, does not mince his words about the precarious state of classical music in universities today and the fact that positions are frozen, cut or transformed into part-time ones.
“A music department is one of the most expensive departments any university can boast, because so much teaching is done one-on-one. But is also amongst the most prestigious, taking the name of that university far beyond our borders as students make it on international stages.”
“Freezing or reducing posts is myopic, and I sometimes think the number crunchers must need a white stick. They are not doing culture a service. What they are doing is helping staff achieve total burn out, for my colleagues all over the country and I work far more than the hours required if we don’t want the students to suffer.”
“Music teachers care. They are stretched to the limit to reach each student individually, to support them, to help them achieve their utmost potential. Everyone is suffering from fatigue and then just when you think enough’s enough we find more red tape on our doorsteps. This is killing creativity and no matter how many hours we work into the night to ensure the students are not short-changed the situation remains dire. ”
Having said that, Du Toit then glows with energy and passion about why he teaches.
“In the current climate, it is the teaching of my students that keeps me sane. It’s the creative part of my academic life. It’s a two-way trade since I learn as much as I teach because I have to adapt different teaching methods to each student to get the best out of each one.
A holistic approach to teaching
“I love working with students who have practiced, and this makes it possible for me to explore different things – solving technical problems which, having solved my own I can understand more of them – architectural issues around a specific piece. I have a holistic approach to teaching – it’s not only learning the notes, but how one psychologically and physiologically approaches the music. I try to get students to connect to more than the notes.”
He started playing by ear when he was about four, “plink-plonking” whenever his sister, nine years older than him and a piano student, vacated the piano stool, and he soon got a feel for harmonies. When he was seven he started lessons, and entering eisteddfodau. He always wanted to play the Chopin Piano Concerto no 2, and his teacher said he was too young. Finally, in his matric year, his teacher allowed him to learn the third movement; he won that year’s Concerto Prize at the Eisteddfod, and played it as his prize the first time he ever played with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.
He was impressive enough for the CTSO to invite him along with Steven de Groote as soloists on the orchestra’s Taiwan tour in 1988. Since then he has been a regular with the orchestra in Cape Town.
Does he have time for other things? With his partner Hano Wentzel he devotes what’s left of his life to his German shepherds, and of course presents many recitals and accompanies local and visiting performers on, for instance, the Cape Town Concert Series stage.
His recital at La Motte with CPO wind principal players Lisa White (oboe ) and Gabriele von Durckheim (flute) and Daniel Prozesky (clarinet) is on 20 October, and on 9 December 2018 he will give a recital with Daniel Prozesky for the Richard Wagner Society.
Francois du Toit is also giving a master class in the Les Amateurs Virtuoses festival that takes place in Cape Town and Stellenbosch from 10 – 18 November 2018.
Does he regret choosing music?
“Never. I consider myself lucky that I knew at 14 or 15 just what I wanted to do with my life. Make no mistake, my life was normal in every way. I saw quite early that winning money could make me financially independent and I could buy my own model train sets! My friends respected the fact that I was doing so well in eisteddfodau.”
In 1995, after studying and winning competitions in Europe, his life took another turn – and he returned to South Africa. He was on a concert tour and while in Durban was called to the phone in his hotel restaurant – Korie Koornhof, professor of piano at Potchefstroom University told him about a piano post opening up and suggested he apply. He did, won it, and by July that year was back.
“I really missed South Africa and was delighted to be back,” Francois du Toit says. It’s not too late to say that so are we, Francois! He will be joined on the programme with the CPO which is conducted by Daniel Boico by Respighi’s The Birds, Rajna’s Video Games and the Poulenc Sinfonietta.
Who: Francois du Toit pianist
What: CPO Spring Symphony season
Where: Cape Town City Hall
When: 1 November 2018, CPO/Daniel Boico conductor
Info, book: http://bit.ly/DuToitsChopin, Artscape Dial-a-Seat 021 421 7695
WS
