Renowned women composers and performers whose works of enduring beauty and power have been shelved, sidelined, misattributed or overlooked will be given a platform at the 2026 Wakkerstroom music festival.
In her welcoming note, festival chairperson Linette van de Merwe, a professional mezzo-soprano and lecturer in the Humanities Department at Pretoria University, invites classical music enthusiasts to turn their gaze and ears towards the truth that patriarchal society has forgotten: great art has no gender.
I dont think I can recall seeing a man perform a programme of women composers here in South Africa, cellist Mietze Dill says.
