Our Facilities
Music Centre
In 1986, Mr Hugo Lambrechts, a former Director of the Cape Education Department, raised the question as to why there are so few South African instrumentalists in our orchestras. The answer, according to him, was that we didn’t have facilities where South Africans can start instrumental tuition at a young age. He wanted a music centre in the Parow area to serve the community of the Northern Suburbs. He was told that there was no money to establish such a Centre, but he persisted and used limited funds for over 3 years to get the Centre started in the old Parow Primary School, on the corner of Picton and Alexander Streets in 1989.
The old school building now consists of 25 music rooms, used for tuition, chamber music concerts, internal and external examinations, meetings and small functions. The world known auditorium of the Hugo Lambrechts Musical Centre in Parow. It was soon recognised by the department of education that the facilities, especially the old school hall used for concerts, were not adequate. Thanks to the relentless efforts of the mayor, Mr Attie Adriaanse, an ultra-modern auditorium was finally built and inaugurated in 2002. He commented in the Tygertalk Newspaper of 2003: “One of Parow’s greatest achievements in 100 years was the ultra-modern auditorium built at the Hugo Lambrecht School”.
Today Parow boasts one of the three major Music Centres in the Western Cape with virtually none in the rest of the country. The highly acclaimed auditorium is used for student exposure to public performance as well as a venue for visiting national and international artists. It seats 450 people and has a stage for 70 orchestra members as well a choir gallery for 140 members.
Auditorium
In 1986, Mr Hugo Lambrechts, a former Director of the Cape Education Department, raised the question as to why there are so few South African instrumentalists in our orchestras. The answer, according to him, was that we didn’t have facilities where South Africans can start instrumental tuition at a young age. He wanted a music centre in the Parow area to serve the community of the Northern Suburbs. He was told that there was no money to establish such a Centre, but he persisted and used limited funds for over 3 years to get the Centre started in the old Parow Primary School, on the corner of Picton and Alexander Streets in 1989.
The old school building now consists of 25 music rooms, used for tuition, chamber music concerts, internal and external examinations, meetings and small functions. The world known auditorium of the Hugo Lambrechts Musical Centre in Parow. It was soon recognised by the department of education that the facilities, especially the old school hall used for concerts, were not adequate. Thanks to the relentless efforts of the mayor, Mr Attie Adriaanse, an ultra-modern auditorium was finally built and inaugurated in 2002. He commented in the Tygertalk Newspaper of 2003: “One of Parow’s greatest achievements in 100 years was the ultra-modern auditorium built at the Hugo Lambrecht School”.
Today Parow boasts one of the three major Music Centres in the Western Cape with virtually none in the rest of the country. The highly acclaimed auditorium is used for student exposure to public performance as well as a venue for visiting national and international artists. It seats 450 people and has a stage for 70 orchestra members as well a choir gallery for 140 members.
Our Vision & Mission
Our Vision
Orchestrating a world-class music centre
Our Mission
The Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre aspires to:
- Provide a holistic music education programme.
- Nurture the inherent musical abilities of all our learners from diverse communities to achieve their full musical potential.
- Create a safe haven for all our learners by cultivating a culture of inclusivity.
- Harness music education to precipitate the development of twenty -first century workplace skills such as creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.
- Offer learners and educators a platform to participate in music-making at a national and international level.
- Create a lifelong enjoyment of music while encouraging the audiences of the future.
- Provide dedicated and professional musical leadership to the South African music education environment.
- Be a South African home for international teaching artists.
Our Values

Inclusivity

Excellence

Integrity

Respect

Care
Orchestrating Youth
Our History
The Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre, named after a former Western Cape Minister of Education Mr Hugo Lambrechts, was established by the Western Cape Education Department in 1986 in what was then the Parow Valley Primary School. With the late Mr Leon Hartshorne as principal and three heads of department, namely Mr Darryl Walters (woodwinds), Mr Faan Malan (brass), and Mr Louis van der Watt (strings), the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre set out to provide instrumental tuition to school going students primarily in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. The official opening of the music centre was held on 29 August 1986 in the Parow Valley Primary School hall, with the building handed over for the sole use of the Music Centre the following January.
With an initial emphasis on symphonic wind, percussion, and string instrument tuition the prospect of establishing wind bands and string orchestras was soon to become a reality. This is an integral part of our curriculum to this today. The development of the various bands and orchestras as well as the fast progressing students culminated in the formation of the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra which had its debut performance, under the baton of Leon Hartshorne, at the five-year celebration of the Music Centre in 1991. Over the years the Music Centre has expanded to not only include woodwind, brass and percussion instruments but also singing, guitar, piano, harp and theory tuition to its list of offered subjects.
Over the years, learners from the Music Centre have gone on to further their music tuition at all the leading tertiary institutions in South Africa and take up teaching roles in schools, institutions and orchestras around the country. Many of our learners have also gone on to further their music studies and careers at leading institutions and conservatoires abroad. From early on it was evident that the level of instruction received at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre was on par with any where in the world as our learners were featuring prominently in competitions across the country and even abroad. This is a feature that has remained strong to this day with learners regularly achieving great success in all the leading competitions across the country. We are proud to say that students from the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre have been announced as overall winners in all the major primary school and high school competitions over the years. Orchestral and ensemble tours have been part and parcel of the Hugo Lambrechts year plan from the outset, with the most recent tour to Eastern Europe in 2016.
A dream came true in 2002 when the Hugo Lambrechts was completed. This world class concert venue, which seats 450 people and can handle an entire symphony orchestra and choir on its stage, has, since its completion, prompted performances by local and international artists on a yearly basis. It is also home to two of the largest music competition in the country, the SAMRO Hubert van der Spuy National Youth Music Competition (primary school) and the National Youth Music Competition (high school). It has also proved to be an important performance platform for all learners at the Music Centre, a privilege that very few other educational institutions in South Africa can boast with.
A combined passion for the importance of community development, and the irreplaceable role that music can play in this endeavour, lead to the establishing of the Hugo Lambrechts Music Development Programme in 2002. Initially, with just one school from the surrounding areas, the programme now provides music tuition to 190 students from six different partnership primary schools.
At present twelve full-time and twelve part-time specialised music teachers provide tuition for 600 learners from all sectors of our diverse community. Initially focussed on providing instrumental to learners from the northern suburbs of Cape Town, the Music Centre has widened its learner base to include learners from as far away as Citrusdal and Malmesbury.
Our Staff
Meet our team of dedicated staff members

Principal
Dr Arisa Voges - Saxophone & Clarinet


String, Harp & Guitar Department
Ms Zelda Wepner - Violin & Viola

Zelda Wepner (née Hofstander) graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a BMus (2004) and HonsBA (2005) and also obtained her UTLM (violin) in 2008. She studied violin with Suzanne Martens and piano with Dr Liezl-Maret Jacobs. She gained teaching experience working part-time at the Beau Soleil and Frank Pietersen Music Centres and the Redefine Music Project in Kuilsrivier. Zelda has received merit awards from Unisa for outstanding teaching and has been asked to adjudicate at Eistedfoddau. She has been a committee member of the South African Society for Music Teachers since 2011 – 2018. Zelda was invited to join the board of Unisa examiners in 2016 and is currently an active Unisa examiner. Teaching is her passion and many of her students have pursued a career in music.
Ms Maretha van der Walt - Violin & Viola

Maretha van der Walt studied violin with Louis van der Watt, and composition with Prof. Hans Roosenschoon, at the University of Stellenbosch. She graduated with a BMus in 2010 and HonsBMus (cum laude) in 2012. She was awarded a bursary, allowing her to complete a portion of her postgraduate studies in composition with Prof. Lasse Thoresen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. After her studies, she moved to Johannesburg in 2012 where she taught violin at the King David Jewish Academy of Music and Randburg High School. During this time, she was also a member of, and toured with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. She is currently an ad hoc member of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ms Lee-Ann Cloete - Violin & Viola

Ms Lynn Donson - Cello

Mr Uliano Marcio - Guitar

Uliano Marchio was born in Cape Town and studied the guitar in London and Barcelona, after which he did radio broadcasts on Spanish and Norwegian National Radios. After returning to Cape Town he did regular concerts and radio broadcasts, and later television broadcasts as well. He played the main guitar concerti several times with various orchestras including the Lambeth Orchestra in London and started the guitar department at the S.A.College of Music and Stellenbosch Conservatoire. Moving to Italy for 20 years his main activity was joint recitals with his wife Marisa, soprano, and teaching both privately and in Italian Conservatorios. He served on the juries of international guitar competitions and concertised with Marisa in Europe and the Middle East. Having returned to Cape Town he teaches at Westerford High School and the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre.
Ms Megan van der Merwe - Guitar
Ms Jane Theron - Harp

Woodwinds & Voice
Mr Liam Burden - Saxophone & Clarinet

Saxophonist and conductor Liam Burden is based at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre in Parow, Cape Town, where he teaches saxophone and clarinet and is principal conductor of the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra. Liam graduated, cum laude, from the University of Stellenbosch with a specialization in saxophone performance. While an honours student he was afforded the opportunity to do a semester of study at the West Virginia University, USA, under Dr Michael Ibrahim. As a saxophonist, Liam has competed in all the major competitions in South Africa and given numerous performances. Most recently he formed part of the Connections Saxophone Quartet, made up of French and South African saxophonists, and performed to rave reviews in a two-week tour along the southern coast of South Africa. As a conductor Liam has conducted performances with the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra at the Greyton/Genadendal Classics for all Festival, the Tulbagh Arts Festival and many concerts in the Hugo Lambrechts auditorium including the annual Hugo Lambrechts Concerto Festival often premiering new South African compositions. Liam was musical director of the musical Brothers which was staged at the HB Thom theatre in Stellenbosch, and the conductor of the first KOMPOS Concert. Further conducting commitments include conducting for the WCED Prestige Concert, which afforded top achieving grade 12 learners the opportunity to perform concerti with a professional orchestra, and conductor for a faculty concert at the 2014 Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival made up of international musicians from South Africa and the USA. Liam is a part-time saxophone lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch.
Ms Jeanie Kelly - Flute

Ms Charlene Saayman - Clarinet & Saxophone

Ms Andrea van der Speck - Oboe
Ms Caron Tremble - Bassoon
Ms Marisa Marchio - Voice

Ms Marcelle Steinmetz - Voice

Brass
Ms Carin Brand - Trombone, Euphonium & Tuba

Mr Ronaldo Wales - Trumpet
Renaldo Wales started playing the trumpet in 2004 in the church brigades and took lessons at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre. He was the principal trumpeter of the Hugo Lambrechts Symphony Orchestra as well as the Hugo Lambrechts Symphonic Wind Band.
In 2009 he became the principal trumpeter for the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and in 2011 he enrolled at the University of Stellenbosch. He was the principal trumpet player in the University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Wind and Brass Ensemble. and is also a member of WindWorx and Cape Town Concert Brass.
Renaldo was selected as on-stage trumpeter to perform Porgy and Bess in Téatro Real, Madrid (2015) and Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires (2016) with the Cape Town Opera.
He has received masterclasses from Manu Asensi (Spain), Pièrre Du Tôt (France), Leon Pétré (Belgium), Hans Zeller (Germany), Rik Ghesquière (Belgium), Francesc Castello (Spain) and Richard Gonzalez (Spain).
Ms Lindsey Mulgrew - French Horn & Piano


Other
Ms Carike Byker - Piano & Theory

Ms Vanessa Phillips - Piano, Music Theory & Basic Music Education
Vanessa holds a BMus in piano performance from the University of Stellenbosch as well as a Performance Diploma from the Royal Schools of Music. She had her debut as soloist with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra while at University. Vanessa is an active chamber musician, specializing in piano accompaniment. She has a special interest in inclusive education, especially pertaining to music education and community development. She has experience in directing and assisting community projects aimed at choral music workshops, community dance theatres and arts initiatives.
Ms Tessa De Groote - Piano
Tessa De Groote obtained her BMus and Piano Performer’s Licentiate (Chamber Music) through UNISA, with the late Professor Lamar Crowson as her instructor. During these years, she and her ensemble won third and the year after, second prize, at the Oude Meester National Chamber Music Competition. She also appeared several times as soloist with the CTSO. After 10 years of teaching and doing accompanying work at Herschel Girls School, she returned to freelancing, teaching from home and accompanying for exams and eisteddfods, as well as doing some film music composition and attending Vocal Accompaniment courses in France. She is currently studying the Taubman piano method, an ergonomic approach to the piano developed by American piano professor Dorothy Taubman.
Ms Suzette Brits - Percussion

Non-Academic Staff

