Endler Concert Series 2026 opens with international star power
Rich mix of various music genres
The Endler Concert Series opens its first season of 2026 with an ambitious February – March programme in Stellenbosch that combines international star power with some of South Africa’s most compelling performers and ensembles.
Presented in the Endler Hall and Fismer Hall at the Stellenbosch University Konservatorium, the opening weeks offer a rich mix of chamber music, jazz, orchestral repertoire, and a national festival that draws leading flutists and educators to the Winelands.
The season launches on Friday 20 February with Cheng² Duo (pronounced “Cheng Squared Duo”), the JUNO-nominated sibling partnership of cellist Bryan Cheng and pianist Silvie Cheng. Born in Ottawa and Tokyo respectively and raised in Canada, the Chengs have built an international profile for their expressive, joyful performances and striking musical chemistry, with appearances in major halls across North America, Europe, Asia and South Africa. Bryan is the only prizewinner of both the Queen Elisabeth and Geneva International Music Competitions in the past 40 years, while Silvie has held prestigious artistic residencies and fellowships. Their Endler Hall recital offers a colourful journey from Spanish flair and English folksong to German Romanticism and French elegance, featuring works by Joaquín Nin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Schumann, Nadia Boulanger and Francis Poulenc – an opening night designed to dazzle.
Jazz takes centre stage on Tuesday 24 February in Fismer Hall, when pianist Ramon Alexander returns with his trio for a collaboration featuring German bassist Martin Zenker. The programme looks to the future while staying rooted in soulful South African jazz—bringing original music and reimagined standards to life through groove, lyricism and the kind of interplay that comes from long musical conversation.
On Friday 27 February, Endler Hall hosts the Wits Trio in War and Peace, an emotionally charged programme that places two iconic piano trios in dialogue with history. Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio – often associated with ideals of liberty and hope – sits alongside Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, a searing response to the devastation of World War II.
A special one-night-only orchestral event follows on Saturday 28 February, when the Stellenbosch City Orchestra presents A Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber, conducted by Paul van Zuilenburg and featuring soloists Lynelle Kenned and Louis Loock. Showcasing favourites from The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sunset Boulevard and more, the concert is a celebration of musical theatre on a grand scale – and it is already sold out.
From 28 February to 4 March, Stellenbosch becomes a national hub for flute performance and pedagogy as it hosts the inaugural South African Flute Festival (SAFF) across Endler and Fismer Hall. Founded and directed by South African-born flutist Cobus du Toit (Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst) and co-directed by Bridget Rennie-Salonen, the festival gathers students, teachers and professional flutists for masterclasses, workshops, flute choirs and performances, with international guest artist Gareth McLearnon (Ireland). Two Endler Hall highlights include the Flute Choir Concert, One Voice, Many Colours (Tuesday 3 March), curated around McLearnon’s music and conducted by the composer, and the festival’s Gala Concert, Beyond Breath (Wednesday 4 March), featuring McLearnon and du Toit with pianist Nina Schumann and a professional flute ensemble. The gala also includes the world premiere of a new flute trio by celebrated South African composer Hendrik Hofmeyr.
The Endler Concert Series continues in March with a luminous vocal chamber programme on Friday 6 March, when South African baritone William Berger joins the SAMA-nominated Juliet String Quartet for The Broad and Burning Moon. Berger – who has appeared on major international stages including the Royal Opera House, London, and the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. – brings an award-winning presence to an evocative programme under the banner of night. The concert moves from Respighi’s Il Tramonto to Barber’s Dover Beach, and includes intimate new transcriptions of songs by Clara Schumann, alongside William Alwyn’s 3 Winter Poems for String Quartet and Borodin’s beloved String Quartet No. 2.
On Friday 13 March, early music takes the spotlight when Lutesong Consort presents Cupid’s Arrow – Love Songs from the 17th Century, exploring the delights and torments of love through Italian duets by Monteverdi, Strozzi, Sances, Kapsperger, Merula and Frescobaldi. Performed on period instruments, the concert features mezzo-sopranos Lente Louw and Lusibalwethu Sesanti, with Uwe Grosser (lute and baroque guitar) and Vera Vukovič (chitarrone), bringing immediacy and colour to music that remains as emotionally direct as it is historically rich.
Rounding off the March preview on Friday 20 March, the USSO appears in Endler Hall under internationally active Dutch conductor Arjan Tien, with mezzo-soprano Minette du Toit-Pearce as soloist. Tien, currently professor of conducting at the conservatories of Amsterdam and Maastricht in the Netherlands, is recognised for his work across symphonic and operatic repertoire and for championing imaginative programming. The programme includes Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess and Shéhérazade, alongside Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade—a richly coloured close to the first-season preview.
Later in March, the Konservatorium also hosts the Stellenbosch International Piano Symposium (25–29 March 2026), presented biennially since 2006 by Stellenbosch University’s Department of Music Piano Division. The symposium offers an intensive programme of masterclasses, lectures and concerts by South African and international pianists, culminating in the ever-popular Piano Extravaganza – a final-night spectacle featuring 10 pianos on stage. Running alongside the symposium is the National Hennie Joubert Piano Competition (23–28 March 2026), which forms part of the symposium activities and provides a major platform for South Africa’s gifted young pianists, including a final round with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
- Tickets from Webtickets:Endler Concert Series concerts in this period are R170 and R130, and Maties students enter free (students must book their free tickets online via Webtickets to guarantee admission). Ticket prices for South African Flute Festival events vary per concert. The Stellenbosch City Orchestra’s A Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber is sold out.