At 12h30 on Sunday 10 September, the NG Church is hosting an ‘almost-repeat’ performance of this programme as a Picnic Concert. This will be held on the lawns at the Church, with access from Malcolm Road, Blairgowrie. Philip Cox is still the main attraction. Isabel Bradley is again a soloist, but in place of the Chopin Romance, the RSO will perform Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante with members Ulrike Franzmann (oboe), Ute Liebenberg (violin), Shirley Sedgwick (‘cello) and Johan Kohler (bassoon) as soloists.

Featured soloist

Philip Cox studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire and Royal Academy of Music. He is one of South Africa’s busiest multi genre instrumentalists. His Debut Album ‘Top Drawer’ was nominated for a Libera Award in the US and has sold in excess of 4000 units. This year has seen Philip performing the Hummel Trumpet Concerto with the Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra, the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and with today’s performance of the rarely heard Neruda Trumpet Concerto will give Philip the rare achievement of performing the three ‘Big’ Classical Concerto’s for Trumpet in a single year, an achievement that is a first in South Africa. Philip Cox is a regular commissioner of new works for the Trumpet, M2 West by Clare Loveday, Intsika by Bongani Ndodana-Breen and Toccata by Allan Stephenson will all receive premieres in Cape Town (CTSO), Durban (KZN PO) and Johannesburg (JFO) in 2017. His next album, ‘Vanguard’, will be released in the summer of 2017. It will be a purely ‘classical’ recording and will feature his three new commissions and a new arrangement of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto by Sue Cock. He will be making a return visit to the hugely successful ‘Baroque in the Bush’ series of concert, where he will be performing concertos by Telemann in celebration of the 250th anniversary of that composer’s birth. Philip is delighted to be performing this rarely heard concerto and is grateful to the Rand Symphony Orchestra for their invitation. Philip is a proud ‘Yamaha’ Artist and plays exclusively on Yamaha Trumpets. Please visit Philip's website: http://www.philipcox.co.za/

Soloists from the orchestra

Isabel Bradley has held the position of principal flute in The Rand Symphony Orchestra since its early days as, first, the Rand Chamber Orchestra, which became the Randburg City Orchestra, before adopting its current name in 2007. She has performed as soloist with the Orchestra on several occasions, has been on the RSO Committee since the mid-nineteen-eighties, and in the Chair for much of the last 18 years, a position she currently holds. Isabel studied flute in Johannesburg, starting on the piccolo at the age of eight with her father as teacher. A year later, she graduated to flute lessons with Chippy Yutar who instilled in her a love and passion for performance. She later spent five years of intense practical flute study with Lucien Grujon. Isabel has a Licentiate from the Trinity College of Music, London. As a teenager, in the positions of piccolo player, flautist and soloist, Isabel toured nationally and internationally with the SABC Junior Orchestra. She has performed as soloist on many occasions at the main musical venues in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Isabel enjoys playing chamber music both in South Africa and internationally, finding it a marvellous way to meet like-minded people.

Ute Siehoff Liebenberg started playing the violin while at school in the Free State. She obtained her B.Mus(Hons)from Wits University after which she spent ten musically active years playing and teaching in Windhoek. Since 1994 she has been playing in various ensembles and orchestras in Johannesburg as well as teaching at several schools. She is the leader of the RSO since 2012.

Ulrike Franzman was born and raised in Johannesburg, trained as a medical technologist, graduated in chemistry and microbiology and worked in forensics, pharmaceuticals, biochemical research, and as a full-time mom. For the past 10 years she has engaged in training and teaching within an international Bible ministry and her local church. In 2009, her life-long love and appreciation for music surfaced, when she started taking oboe lessons with Tim Roberts. She has progressed through several exams and enjoys chamber music. Jumping into the deep end, she joined the RSO in 2016. Ulrike is married to Dirk, with two daughters on the verge of leaving the nest.

Johan Köhler grew up in the Durban area where he studied bassoon with Derek Vaughan-Heapy and Retha Cilliers. He completed his Royal Schools Grade 8 in matric and obtained his BSc Eng degree at UKZN. He was a long-standing member of the KZN Youth Wind Band under the batons of Theo Venter and Werner Dannewitz and a member of the Durban City Orchestra. He relocated to Randburg in 2011 where he works as a software engineer. He is principal bassoon and serves on the orchestra committee.

Shirley Sedgwick grew up in the North of England, receiving ‘cello lessons from Dorothy C Milner, and gaining her Royal Schools Grade 8 at the age of 17. She was a member of both youth and adult amateur orchestras in the UK before relocating to South Africa, where she joined the Rand Symphony Orchestra (then known as the Randburg City Orchestra, under the baton of Bernard Wozny) in the early 1990s. She has participated in numerous orchestral ventures, including the recent ‘Doctors for Smiles’ performance at the Pretoria State Theatre. Shirley is principal ‘cellist and a committee member of the orchestra.