The popular Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF) celebrates 20 years at the US Konservatorium in Stellenbosch.

The formal evening concerts will take place at the Endler Hall at 20:00 daily, and to celebrate the 20^th rendition of the SICMF, a special alumni orchestra has been constituted to perform a once off pre-SICMF concert on Thursday 3 July.

The SICMF Alumni Symphony Orchestra will comprise past participants from its inception to the present. The programme will include Mahler’s gargantuan and stirring fifth symphony, a new work by Matthijs van Dijk and Gershwin’s Concerto in F. The young up-and-coming internationally lauded South African conductor, Jacobus de Jager will be the conductor and the concertmaster will be Ian Watson, with Leo Gevisser as the piano soloist.

The featured composer this year is the internationally acclaimed New York based jazz pianist, Kevin Harris whose specially commissioned work Resonance will receive its world premiere on Tuesday 8 July.

Additional student concerts can be attended every day at 13:00 and 17:00.

Much loved regular festival artists include amongst others Nicholas Dautricourt, Andrej Baranov, Suzanne Martens and Farida Bacharova (violin), Xandi van Dijk (viola), Maja Bogdanovic and David Cohen (cello), Ekaterina Kornishina (flute), Dwight Parry (oboe), YaoGuang Zhai (clarinet), Marco Silva (trumpet), Jauvon Gilliam (percussion) and Emanuil Ivanov (piano).

New artists include Jose Garcia Gutierrez (French horn), one of the most respected artists of his generation; Zoran Markovic, double bassist extraordinaire; Bram van Sambeek, the Paganini of the bassoon and Daniel Austrich, a violist, who has an international reputation as a charismatic soloist and much sought-after chamber musician.

The SICMF will conclude with four orchestral concerts, three of which will take place in the Endler Hall and one of which will take place in the community hall in Khayamandi.