On December 4 at 19h45 in the Durban Jewish Club, Friends of Music will host a concert featuring some of the top young talent to be found in KZN.

Friends of Music are well-known for their classical music recitals usually held every month and often featuring international performers who visit Durban to appear with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra.

This time, the focus is on home-grown talent and the programme will feature 11 young musicians and singers who are all pupils of members of the South African Society of Music Teachers. The standard will be high and audiences can expect to enjoy works from violinists, pianists and singers as well as a flautist, trombonist and harpist.

Ranging in age from 15 to 19, performers will be flautist Madeleine Shama, pianists Claire Wright and Chen-Ming Wang, sopranos Ronette Bodenstein and Sarah Brandon as well as violinists Sarah Pudifin and Bruce Williams. There’s a strong family element with sisters Keshree Pillay and Meruschka Pillay who will play a piano duo and the Pietermaritzburg-based twins Marina Solomon on the harp and David Solomon on the trombone.

Items on the programme range from works by Handel and Scarlatti to Puccini, Bernstein and Lloyd Webber. This concert will give audiences a chance to see the performers of the future.

A shortened version of the concert will be held at the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday at 13h00.

Booking for the Friends of Music concert is at Computicket. The event also marks the launch of FOM's new Prelude Performers project. The Durban Jewish Club has plenty of safe parking and there is a cash bar available.