The artists

Neels's interest in choir conducting started while serving as organist in various congregations, where he was responsible for the church choirs. He also successfully conducted a number of school choirs. He established the Lowveld Youth Choir, of which he was both the conductor and accompanist. He was recently elected to the management of the Adjudicators' Forum of the National Eisteddfod of South Africa.

He is currently involved in giving private singing lessons, conducting of choirs, as well as lecturing at choir workshops presented by the Pretoria Choral Academy, by Dr Salome Hendrikse, focusing on voice production and vocal choir technique.

After being a full time translator for seven years, Deirdré starts her freelance career in music in 1995. She performs mostly in concert productions and oratoria of which the St John's Passion (Bach), with the Bach Choir is the most recent production. In April 2001 her KKNK-commissioned production Op die Korovlak received the Kanna award, and also gets a De Kat nomination as best newcomer. She has recently made four CD recordings. In addition to freelancing she works as music educator in Gauteng. In September 2002 she passes the UNISA performances licentiate cum laude and is invited to participate in the overseas bursary competition.

Mia started singing lessons at the opera school of Pretoria at the age of 23. Recently she re-entered the stage after a few years of raising children. She performed in Prins Orlovsky and Fledermaus amongst various other student productions performed in the State Theatre. She also sang the lead role in the Afrikaans opera Mara van Marius de Bruin. In 2001 Mia was the overall winner of the adult section of the Beeld/Standard Bank Eisteddfod.