Tag Archives: Johannesburg Bach Choir

Diane Coutts

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Six conductors and 60 years: Memories abound for Diane Coutts

By Marlene Ross

The Johannesburg Bach Choir has been associated with some of South Africa’s most talented musicians during the past 60 years. Diane Coutts, who has performed with the Johannesburg Bach Choir as organist, pianist and harpsichordist, twice received the SABC Artes award for best piano recordings and has also received lifetime achievement awards from the South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) and the South African Society of Music Teachers (SASMT). Diane’s association with the Johannesburg Bach Choir goes back to the 1990s. She still accompanies the choir for rehearsals on an ad hoc basis.

Diane Coutts: Pianist, organist and harpsichordist extraordinaire

Born in Durban, Diane studied piano, organ and flute. Her organ tutor was Errol Slater, who was the organist at St Paul’s Church in central Durban. At one of her piano performances in Durban she was noticed by Ivey Dickson, a professor at the London Royal Academy of Music and the director of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. She invited Diane to study in London from 1965 to 1966.

On returning to South Africa, she was appointed as the SABC accompanist for Natal in 1970. In 1979 she was transferred to Johannesburg as the official SABC accompanist and as member of the National Symphony Orchestra of the SABC. Diane prefers accompaniment to solo work, because it provides her with the opportunity to share her love of music with other musicians. She explains that in duo work in particular, one is able to share ideas on interpretation with fellow musicians. She has accompanied many contestants at the Unisa International Strings Competitions as well as the Unisa International Voice Competitions, including the winner of the Unisa International Strings Competition in 2010.

Referring to her many piano recordings, Diane explains that she prefers “leaving a recording as a legacy as opposed to playing in live concerts, which is just a fleeting moment in time”. As an introvert, she feels it also better suits her personality.

Apart from her work at the SABC, she also examined for Unisa and was juror for many music competitions. Diane has many qualifications in teaching, accompaniment and performance for organ, piano and flute. Her students excel in their examinations, many of them winning Unisa awards. She is still teaching and has adapted to the post-Covid online teaching and examination methods with aplomb.

In 2019, after serving the Catholic Church as organist for 60 years, she received an award from Pope Francis. Diane is still the organist at St Bonifatius German Speaking Catholic Church in Randburg.

Diane has performed with the Johannesburg Bach Choir as organist, pianist and harpsichordist with six resident conductors – Bruno Peyer, Douglas Reid, Roland Solomon, Colin Yorke, Dario Broccardo and Tim Roberts. Highlights of her performances with the Choir include playing the harpsichord solo part in the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 5 on a locally built harpsichord for its inaugural performance, as well as the challenge of playing the Mozart Requiem on the organ, in place of a full orchestra.

Diane remains an inspiration to her students and fellow musicians and the Johannesburg Bach Choir is very proud that she is part of the choir’s journey.

Leipzig Bachfest congratulations

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The Johannesburg Bach Choir is delighted to receive a letter of congratulations on its 60th anniversary celebrations from the Leipzig Bachfest and the Bach Archive Leipzig. The Leipzig Bachfest is the world’s most significant Bach festival, attracting choirs from throughout the globe. We are honoured to be congratulated in this way. The letter is below.

Buck any difficulty with Bach and just love life

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By Stuart Meyer*

Love of the colourful tapestry that life has to offer has led to rewarding experiences such as those of the Membership Secretary of the Johannesburg Bach Choir. From her newfound love for bowls which she began playing after retiring in 2017, to her abiding love for the world-renowned diamond corporate, De Beers, Sue has had an interesting life.

Sue’s love of music – and singing – probably began as a girl. To make the after-dinner dishwashing more fun, Sue and her three sisters sang songs from the FAK (Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge) album that they had found in their home. They also sang the odd German folk song. While Sue also sang in her primary school choir, by her teens she was only interested in boys. She’d found new loves. Singing was all but forgotten.

Sue van Zyl with a modern version of the FAK (Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge) book from which she and her sisters sang as youngsters. (Photo by Theo Coggin)

Joining De Beers in 1991 as an executive secretary, Sue made full use of the company’s internal learning and development programme, eventually gaining a degree in human resources management which she put to use managing the company’s bursary scheme. Sue also found training and development, especially of young people, rewarding. Despite the pressure of her roles, Sue’s love for people and learning filled her 25-year career at De Beers with purpose and delight. Her many mentorship, guidance and training activities, usually involving thorough checking of work and performance, earned her the nickname “The Principal”. Her approval was required by all and was never easy to get.

Mostly, though, Sue loved working for what she came to know as an ethical company. De Beers sought, at every turn, to do the right thing. Whether among its employees, the communities it touched, the environment or the country, Sue felt it a privilege to be part of such an effective force for good.

About 10 years ago, leafing through the advertisement section of her local newspaper, Sue spotted an ad asking, Have you ever wanted to sing in a choir? Intrigued, she responded and joined what turned out to be an American gospel music group! She loved it. Here she also heard about Capital Singers, eventually participating in seven different massed concerts in Pretoria. While these choirs re-kindled her love of singing, the logistics of the trips to Pretoria motivated her to look for a choir closer to home. Quite by chance Sue’s sister heard an interview with Tim Roberts, chatting on Classic FM with his characteristic English accent. She “heard” him talking about the “Johannesburg BUCK Choir”. It intrigued her.

She quickly discovered that Tim has an engaging British demeanour, and that BUCK in this context was actually JS Bach and had nothing to do with antelopes. As soon as she could, Sue joined even though had no experience of singing classical music. She loved it from the start. Bowled over by the camaraderie, the professionalism of Tim Roberts and Ruth Coggin’s brilliant teaching, Sue has even learned how to read music!

Classical music — and singing in a choir with various sections doing different things — also demands a level of mental alertness, concentration and discipline that she really enjoys. Sue has also grown to truly appreciate classical music and honestly looks forward to the fun, learning and beauty of Monday night practices. She means it when she says, “thank you for the music, for giving it to me!”

▪ Stuart Meyer sings bass in The Johannesburg Bach Choir

▪ Apart from being membership secretary of the choir, Sue van Zyl sings in the soprano line

▪ Theo Coggin is the editor of The Bach Blog. Please “like” and “subscribe” to our Blog. Send suggestions for contributions, attention Theo, to johannesburgbachchoir@gmail.com

Reiner Fossati

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Marriage it shall be: the many faces of Bach choir rehearsals

By Lucia Poorter*

Reiner Fossati, who was a member of the choir from 1983 until around 2019, and chairman for seven years, grew up in a musically-minded family in Cape Town, listening to classical greats such as Beethoven and Brahms.

“I also liked Mozart but always considered Beethoven two or three notches above him,” he says.

Reiner (above), who holds a doctorate in operations research and teaches additional maths for grades 10, 11 and 12 at the Johannesburg German International School, says he taught himself to read music at the age of seven or eight. “I was fascinated by anything that could be written down.”

He sang in the choir at the German School in Cape Town from the age of 10, and later, after moving to Johannesburg, was persuaded by a friend who was with him in the army to join the Randburg Male Voice Choir in 1979. In 1983, he responded to an advert in The Star for the Johannesburg Bach Choir.

Reiner remembers the choir having well over 100 members and singing two of his favourite works, Mahler’s Symphony No 2 and the Brahms Requiem, which he says “are both highly romantic.” The Mahler symphony also has “an incredible range for the basses. There is something sublime and kind of spiritual when the whole thing comes together.”

Other favourite compositions of his include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and the big Mozart pieces.

Ken Fuller, who was chairman of the choir for more than 20 years, worked opposite the Johannesburg City Hall where the choir often performed, and was therefore usually able to pop across to check that everything was in order before concerts. However, in 1994, after his retirement, and what was to be the last time the choir ever performed in the City Hall, there was a mishap.

“There were supposed to be something like 29 rows of 36 chairs, but there were only 22 rows of 36 chairs,” says Reiner. “This meant that just before the concert was to start, members of the choir were sent down to the basement to fetch extra chairs.”

Another anecdote Reiner remembers is that there used to be a prize for the choir member who sold the most tickets before a concert. There was also a curmudgeonly person in the Choir, let’s call him Robert. Robert sold a huge number of tickets but occasionally someone else would share the prize. Ken would announce that the first prize was a week at Sun City with Robert, second prize was two weeks with Robert, and so on. Robert never saw the humour in this.

Reiner also recalls the choir being hired for a marriage proposal at St Columba’s.

“Someone had to stand guard to watch out for the groom. In the meantime, the wax from the tealight candles, which were laid out in the shape of a heart, leaked all over the floor.”

The bride accepted the proposal. But the choir was left with the challenge of how to remove the wax. (See accompanying photograph.)

  • Lucia Poorter is a soprano in the choir
  • Theo Coggin is the editor of The Bach Blog

Jane Abrahams

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English with a musical ring has lifelong memories  

By Tim Roberts

Some people one never forgets, often for a variety of reasons. Jane Abrahams, a former secretary, committee member and, not least, an invaluable member of the sopranos of the Johannesburg Bach Choir for many years, is just such a person.

It was not just Jane’s sterling work in the background, or enjoyment of sharing her gift of singing which remains in my memory, however.

Jane Abrahams before in concert, before she retired from the JBC.

When interviewing her recently at her home in Rivonia as part of our celebration of the Johannesburg Bach Choir’s Diamond Jubilee, I remembered that when in the choir, Jane’s eloquence in the use of English came through often as she would draw my attention to an elegant phrase in what we were singing.

I asked her why words were so important to her, little realising that she has been surrounded by words all her life; as a novelist (under the pen name of Jane Fox), a poet, a bookseller, an editor, and for some years a librarian at the library of the Rudolf Steiner Society in Bryanston, Johannesburg. 

This simply underlined how fortunate we are as a choir to have members who come from all walks of life. Writers, poets, artists, doctors, builders, lawyers, academics… the list knows no end, and musicians and singers fit in there somewhere as well!  

As Jane says when she recalls what drew her for the Johannesburg Bach Choir: “All my family sang in church choirs and choral societies in Essex in the UK when I was a teenager, and it seemed natural to sing in a choir later in life in Johannesburg.” 

Jane said one of her favourite pieces is the Faure Requiem, which she regards as a wonderful marriage of words to music.

She speaks with great happiness and delight that her son, Matthew, has also been a member of the Choir, and a grandchild is showing promising signs of carrying on the tradition in the family of making music.

As she approaches her ninth decade, Jane’s love for music is undimmed, and her support of the choir continues.

It is heartwarming to chat to members, not least to past members like Jane, who are part of a continuous group of people from many differing backgrounds who share a common joy in making music together, surely one of humankind’s greatest achievements.

  • Tim Roberts is the Director of the Johannesburg Bach Choir, Founder of the Apple Green Orchestra and annually presents the St Francis Baroque Festival.

Click here to read more about Jane and her life, including wonderful photos of Jane and her late husband, Lionel.