Maria Du Toit & Vera Kooper
Biographie Maria Du Toit & Vera Kooper
Maria du Toit
is a South African/Dutch clarinettist who is internationally in demand as soloist and chamber musician. She has performed as soloist with various orchestras across the globe: the Sofia Philharmonic, Cape Town Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Kwazulu Natal Philharmonic, Free State Symphony Orchestra, Fort Collins Symphony, World Doctors Orchestra, Philharmonic Society of Corfu, Marine Band of the Royal Dutch Navy, Nieuw Nijmeegs Chamber Orchestra and Flemish-Brabant Symphony Orchestra, La Banda Municipal de Barcelona, as well as the Dutch Student Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Free University (Amsterdam) and Atheneum Chamber Orchestra. Du Toit has won numerous competitions, awards, and prizes both in South Africa and abroad - among which, first prize in the international clarinet competition Jeunesses Musicales in Bucharest. In 2023 she was invited to perform as a headline artist in the 50th anniversary of the International Clarinet Association’s annual international event ClarinetFest. Maria is regularly invited to perform as well as give master classes and workshops across the USA, Europe, Asia and South Africa. Recent and upcoming concert tours include trips to China, Indonesia, Spain, Ireland, Hungary, South Africa and the USA. Maria is a true ambassador for music by South African composers, regularly performing this repertoire at various high profile international congresses and in renowned venues like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Du Toit has released three albums, and received a South African Music Award (SAMA) nomination for her album Luminous Shade with acclaimed pianist Nina Schumann. Her double cd of the complete clarinet concertos by Louis Spohr with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Arjan Tien has received international acclaim. Maria is currently recording a series of albums with the label Channel Classics, under which her first album with Dutch pianist Vera Kooper will be released in November 2024 featuring works for clarinet and piano by female composers, and the next release will be in 2025 with world premiere recordings of three new clarinet concertos.
As a teenager, after having studied the piano for a few years, Maria took her first clarinet lessons at the Hugo Lambrechts music centre in Cape Town. She fell in love with the instrument and instantly knew that she wanted to pursue a career in music. She obtained a bachelor’s degree cum laude at the University of Stellenbosch and a performer’s licentiate from the University of South Africa with highest honours. Her eagerness to learn subsequently took her to some illustrious institutions overseas - the Manhattan School of Music (USA) where she studied with David Krakauer, the Utrecht Conservatoire (Netherlands) with Bas de Jong as her tutor, and the Sofia Music Academy (Bulgaria) where Petko Radev further coached her. Upon returning to South Africa, she was appointed principal clarinet of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, a position she held for 13 years, before moving to Europe. During her tenure at the CTPO she was also major subject clarinet lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch.
Two prominent South African composers, David Earl and Roelof Temmingh, have both been inspired to write clarinet concertos for Maria, and she has given the world premiere performances of both works.
Maria du Toit is an official Backun artist as well as a Silverstein Inspiring Pro.
Vera Kooper
studied in The Hague (Netherlands), Salzburg (Austria), Paris (France), Bergamo (Italy) and Basel (Switzerland) and received coaching by the legendary pianist Stephen Kovacevich in London.
In 2013, Vera co-founded the Delta Piano Trio with violinist Gerard Spronk and cellist Irene Enzlin. The trio has won numerous prizes and awards, and with around 50 concerts per season they have performed extensively in Europe, Russia, China, Korea, Indonesia and the United States. In 2017 they released their debut CD for Naxos Records and their second CD "The Mirror with Three Faces" with works by Lera Auerbach and Dmitri Shostakovich was released in 2018. In 2020 they were awarded the “Kersjesprijs”, the most prestigious chamber music award in The Netherlands.
Highlights of the past seasons included a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, residencies at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival and the Davos Festival, a collaboration with violist Nobuko Imai, and other performances in Europe and China. In 2020, Vera released her first solo CD, called “Hope”, with works by Beethoven and Corigliano and toured the Netherlands with tv-presenter Floris Kortie and “Het jaar 250 na Beethoven” a theatre production about the life and piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven.
“an unusually gifted and interesting artist.” - Stephen Kovacevich
