Piano but not Amapiano: 8 world-class pianists grace 1 intimate stage at Wits Standard Bank Piano Festival

· Citizen

In many urban and young South African circles, the word “piano” (or iPiano) has become shorthand for Amapiano – that infectious, bass-heavy electronic genre that dominates dancefloors and social media. It’s a testament to how deeply the sound has embedded itself in everyday language and culture. Yet this weekend, the Wits Standard Bank Piano Festival offers a powerful reminder of the instrument’s broader, richer legacy: the acoustic piano in its purest, most nuanced form.

Thoughts of piano concerts invoke images of that unique kind of silence that settles over a room just before a pianist touches the keys. A silence of anticipation as an audience leans in.

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That is precisely the atmosphere the festival has been designed to cultivate. Now in its second edition, it returns from 8 to 10 May 2026 at the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The event brings together eight outstanding pianists across four intimate double-bill concerts, curated by acclaimed composer, bassist and educator Carlo Mombelli.

A space built for listening

The Chris Seabrooke Music Hall is purpose-built for chamber music, an increasingly rare gem in Johannesburg’s cultural landscape. All piano festival performances take place on a Shigeru Kawai concert grand, prized for its tonal richness and clarity.

“The hall allows audiences to experience the piano in its purest form. It’s about nuance, detail, and the intimate relationship between performer, instrument and audience,” said Mombelli in a statement.

“Wits has always been a place where ideas and artistic traditions meet and evolve. This festival creates a space for South African voices to be heard in conversation with the world, while giving audiences a deeply personal, close-up experience of extraordinary musicianship,” added Malcolm Purkey, Consulting Director of Wits Theatre.

Four concerts, eight distinct voices

Friday, 8 May at 7pm opens the piano festival with a double bill featuring two compelling figures in contemporary South African jazz, Thembi Dunjana and Thandi Ntuli.

Dunjana, born in Gugulethu in 1995, started playing piano at age 11. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master’s degree from the University of Cape Town. Her work treats Black indigenous traditions as living foundations rather than fixed artefacts. Her albums Intyatyambo (2020) and God Bless iKapa. God Bless Mzantsi. (2024) have earned multiple Mzantsi Jazz Awards. She has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, including Dizzy’s Club.

“Culture is continuously changing, and the music should also be doing the same,” she said.

Thandi Ntuli, a Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz, is one of the country’s most genre-fluid voices. Her collaborators include Shabaka Hutchings, Thandiswa Mazwai, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Carlos Niño, and Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. She has contributed to William Kentridge projects and released six albums, most recently Rainbow Revisited (2023) on International Anthem.

Saturday, 9 May features two concerts.

  • 3pm: Yonela Mnana and Bokani Dyer

Mnana, shaped by isiXhosa and Sepedi heritage, holds Honours and Master’s degrees (with distinction) from Wits. His albums Baba and Echoes of Marabi (with Swiss saxophonist Benedikt Reising) blend everyday rhythms and languages into composed music. He teaches in Katlehong and Soweto.

Dyer, born in Gaborone in 1986 and raised in Johannesburg, is a UCT jazz graduate. He has performed at Ronnie Scott’s and the North Sea Jazz Festival, and won a 2019 South African Medical Association (Sama) for Neo Native. His 2023 album Radio Sechaba (Brownswood Recordings) explores identity through jazz, soul and groove.

  • 7pm: Hilton Schilder and Andile Yenana

Veterans of the South African jazz scene, Schilder, from Lotus River in Cape Town has appeared on more than 40 albums across multiple genres. Deeply rooted in Kaapse Klopse traditions, he co-founded The Genuines and worked with Robbie Jansen.

Yenana, from King William’s Town, studied under Darius Brubeck and formed a landmark partnership with Zim Ngqawana. A Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz (2005) and SAMA-winning producer, his music draws from Xhosa melodies. He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and the Nantes Fin de Siècle Festival.

A global closing

Sunday, 10 May at 3pm, the piano festival closes with Megan-Geoffrey Prins and international guest Taíssa Poliakova (Taíssa Marchese).

Prins, from Riversdale in the Western Cape, made his concerto debut at eleven and is a full-time piano lecturer at the University of Pretoria. A Standard Bank Young Artist for Music (2019), he performs a demanding programme featuring Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque.

Poliakova, a Portuguese-Russian pianist and professor of piano and Chamber Music at the University of Évora (PhD in Music and Musicology), presents Echoes – a roughly 80-minute journey through works by Vasilije Mokranjac, Sofia Gubaidulina, Fernando Lopes-Graça, Rachmaninoff, and Georgy Sviridov. It offers Johannesburg audiences a rare chance to hear this repertoire at a high level.

The Wits Standard Bank Piano Festival runs from 8-10 May 2026 at the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Tickets cost R300 per concert via Webtickets. Seating is limited, and concertgoers are advised to book early for this intimate celebration of the piano in all its depth and glory.

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