Starring: Isaac van der Merwe
Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2
Isaac van der Merwe
Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra
Isaac van der Merwe, the young Cape Town pianist, winner of several piano competitions, performs the
2nd Piano Concerto (Shostakovich) with the Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carel Henn.
Isaac started percussion at Beau Soleil in 2012, studying under Frank Mallows for several years. He began learning piano with Tessa de Groote in 2014, and in 2015 he took up cello with Maya Maille at Beau Soleil, which he played in the CPYO for a number of years. In 2021 he started learning piano with Albie van Schalkwyk, won first prize in the Senior Piano Category of the Johann Vos, and was overall winner in the Pieter Kooij competition. In October 2021 he performed the first movement of Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto in the 24th Annual Hugo Lambrechts Concerto Festival. In 2022 he embarked on a BMus at UCT under François du Toit and won first prizes in the Hennie Joubert Piano Competition and the Atterbury National Piano Competition, in addition to participating in the finals of the National Youth Music Competition. He has appeared as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jason Atherton in the finals of the 5th SA Conductors' Competition.