It’s not often that a son can honour a parent, and Sakhile Humbane, who is the soloist in the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual memorial concert for Mrs Huberte Rupert on 2 December 2022 performing the CPE Bach Concerto in D minor at the Endler Hall in Stellenbosch has the perfect way, writes PETA STEWART.
“My mother, Makhosazana Humbane, was the greatest musical influence on my life and I am so happy that I can bring her from her home in Durban to Cape Town and Stellenbosch to hear me in my major concert with the CPO.”
“She introduced me into music in the first place. She was an opera singer when I was very young – she is teaching privately, and I was inspired by her and so proud every time I watched her perform in operas, at The Playhouse Company in Durban.”
So that was his introduction to music and his mother encouraged him to become involved too.
Nielsen Flute Concerto
“I started with singing lessons at the age of eight, then I learned a bit of piano and violin, although those instruments for some reason didn’t appeal to me as a child. I eventually was able to choose the flute and this made my mother really happy to know I finally enjoyed an instrument because she didn’t have to ask me to practise anymore. I would do it by myself!
“I decided quite late – in my matric year – that I wanted to become a professional musician. Before that, it has only been a fun hobby of mine, not my career. The turning point came when I had the chance to perform with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in 2013, as part of the South African National Youth Orchestra during their tour of South Africa. We performed in Johannesburg and Cape Town . I was seventeen at the time. This encouraged me to continue to study music in university.”
Sakhile is not new to the CPO. He performed the full Nielsen Flute Concerto with the CPO in the final round of the Stellenbosch International Music Bursary competition in 2015.
“Then came the National Youth Music Competition, which I participated in every year from 2012 until 2015, where I finally received the first prize. It was a fantastic opportunity to perform a difficult programme through multiple rounds as well as give me the opportunity to perform a concerto in the final round. This gave me the experience to be a soloist in front of an orchestra at a very young age, a chance which many of my European colleagues have never had.”
He knows that first hand because he is now studying in Germany,
Yamaha Music Bursary Competition
“I met a flute teacher Professor Andrew Lieberknecht, from Munich in 2018, when I was competing in the Yamaha Music Bursary Competition in Dubai, and we hit it off. I asked her if she has a masterclass where we could work more with each other, then she invited me to a course in Bad Reichenhall, where we worked with each other well. I applied for the Masters’ programme to work a bit longer with her, and I was delighted to be offered one of two places for which more than 100 flautists had auditioned.”
So he moved to Munich in 2019.
For Sakhile, there was a lot of adaptation.
“There are a multitude of differences living in a foreign country, of which the biggest is, of course, language, I have had to learn German as I require it for my day-to-day living. It was a great hurdle at first as I did not know much German before I came, but I have managed to become quite fluent.
“There are a multitude of social differences in the way people interact, and in general, I would describe South Africans as being extremely patient and friendly. In Germany, you are expected to have a high degree of independence and this can be quite difficult at first, especially when you have no idea how certain things work and don’t understand the language. However, the good side is that you are forced to become competent quite quickly. I think interacting with people can be also challenging because, in relation to South Africans, Germans can be very direct which can seem rude or unfriendly, but it isn’t; it’s just a different style of communication which I prefer in certain contexts.”
Although Sakhile reads, jogs, cycles and watches Netflix it is really music that is his life. He began playing the flute at the age of nine with Lisa Thom and Liesl Stoltz before moving to Munich where he studies flute with Professor Lieberknecht and piccolo with Natalie Schwaabe and Joseph Singer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater. Since October 2021, he has been the co-principal flute of the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is happy to be back, and he is coming for a little holiday, because the lead up to his concert here has been filled with a series of concerts, many of which meant fulfilling pre-Covid engagements..
He is also happy to be performing Bach.
“This is one of my favourite flute concerti, as the music is so emotional. It is in the “Sturm und Drang” style, which emphasises the expression of dramatic emotion, and this lead up to the proliferation of Romanticism in the Arts. I like this work because it combines this with the simple gallant style of the late baroque. In the last movement, it also offers the soloist the opportunity to show technical mastery of the flute.”
He still has a lot he wants to do. Although he won many prizes before leaving South Africa, he says he would like to win a top prize in an international competition.
“This is hard to do and much more is required for international competitions than some of the local ones here. I would also still like to develop a wind quintet and play a lot more chamber music in addition to my orchestral work. Then of course I would like to go on to earn a Doctorate in Music.” .
Who: Flautist Sakhile Humbane
What: Huberte Rupert Memorial Concert with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jacobus de Jager
When: Friday, December 2, 8pm
Where: Endler Concert Hall Stellenbosch
Tickets: Computicket
WS
