Piano Festival back at Christopher Seabroke Music Hall at Wits featuring top piano talent

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

When it was launched last year, those who love fine music in general and piano based music in particular converged on the Christopher Seabroke Hall, at Wits University. The hall itself is awesome with its superior acoustics and its intimacy. Music in such a set up becomes an experience. Seen and heard close range, seeping into your whole being, affecting all one’s senses.

Not that big, but intimate and allowing for a full experience of a concert, not wonder only a select kind of musician performs in this specially designed music hall. It is indeed a privilege to get to watch a performance there.

Now those they may not have been there before, and who may have missed last year’s launch of the Piano Festival in this very hall, have an opportunity to go and sample piano based music from some of the leading musicians who have mastered this rather challenging instrument.

However, you have to hurry up and grab a ticket, as concerts featured there always attract discerning music fans in huge numbers, hungry for a dose of good music, out of the noise that dominate our lives these days. Be it at festivals and on social media. However luckily, the festival is not a one day affair, but rather runs from this Friday, May 8, running till 10 May, 2026, withSouth Africa’s vibrant jazz-piano talent, kicking off with performances by Thandi Ntuli and Thembi Dunjana.at this two day festival.

I can bet, there is no way you can experience music in that venue, and not leave the place spiritually energised and on a positive note. That is what happens when you get an opportunity to enjoy fine music, such as that produced by the piano, in a venue that is specially designed to abuse the sound and unleash it into your ears in a controlled and pleasurable manner. The sound does not run wild here, but is measured for maximum effect. Maximum immersion and a pleasurable experience.

Therefore this festival, is one of the most innovative festivals that has been designed for a discerning fine music ear, taking place in a supercool venue.

This festivaldeepens Wits University and Seabrooke Music Hall’s commitment to showcasing the varied South African jazz piano traditions with some of the most brilliant pianists, while remaining cognisant of the instrument’s appeal across different musical idioms.

 The programme will feature a line-up of eight musicians in four double-bill concerts, each performing solo, offering audiences a rare chance to hear seven of the country’s foremost improvisers and storytellers and one international artist in an intimate acoustic setting where the piano will shine.

 On Saturday, 9 May, the afternoon concert features Yonela Mnana and Bokani Dyer, followed by an evening performance titled The Elders, with sets by Hilton Schilder and Andile Yenana.

 The third and final day shifts into the world of classical piano, featuring two outstanding classical soloists whose repertoire and interpretive voices connect the festival to the global lineage of the instrument. South African pianist Megan-Geoffrey Prins, followed by Russian-Portuguese pianist Taissa Poliakova, who will travel to Johannesburg especially for the event, will conclude the festival on Sunday, 10 May.

 Festival curator Carlo Mombelli says the event was conceived in order to take advantage of the music hall’s characteristics, which were especially designed for chamber music. The hall features a world-class Shigeru Kawai concert grand piano, celebrated for its depth, clarity and expressive range.

“This is an acoustic piano music festival for our distinctive piano heritage,” says Mombelli, a jazz composer, bassist and educator.

 “And because the piano was invented in Italy in the 1700s, I wanted to also honour the instrument’s musical roots there, which is why we also have classical piano.”

 The show is made possible through the generous support of Standard Bank, with additional contributions from the Wits School of Arts.

Group Head of Sponsorships at Standard Bank, Bonga Sebesho, said the event provided a unique way to appreciate the multi-generational appeal of jazz and classical music, dovetailing with the bank’s mandate of making art accessible. “The lineup itself tells a unique story of Standard Bank’s enduring involvement within these genres. It’s a legacy whose impact regenerates itself with new names continuing to enter the fray.”

 With several of the festival’s participants, since its beginning, drawn from the illustrious pool of Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners. Meet the musicians whose sounds and artistic journeys will shape the 2026 Wits Standard Bank Piano Festival experience.

Thembi Dunjana
Born in 1995 and raised in Gugulethu, Cape Town, Thembi Dunjana’s music speaks of heritage, modernity and cultural evolution. While her pianistic sound is rooted in indigenous musical traditions, she treats them not as fixed artefacts but as living foundations. As she states, “Culture is continuously changing and the music should also be doing the same.”  Her albums Intyatyambo (2020) and God Bless iKapa. God Bless Mzantsi (2024) have both netted Mzantsi Jazz Awards.

Thandi Ntuli
Thandi Ntuli’s music is marked by intuitive lyricism and a genre-blurring sensibility, drawing together jazz, soul, and African idioms into an expansive personal language. This openness extends into her wide-ranging collaborations, which include work with Shabaka Hutchings and The Ancestors, Sipho Mabuse, Thandiswa Mazwai and Carlos Niño, among others. Her second album Exiled (2018) coincided with receiving the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz.

Hilton Schilder
Hilton Schilder began performing at an early age in bands within the Kaapse Klopse tradition, grounding his artistry in the vibrant rhythms and melodies of the Cape.
In the 1980s, he co-founded The Genuines with Mac McKenzie, later collaborating with distinguished musicians such as Victor Ntoni, Vusi Khumalo and Robbie Jansen. He has also led his own groups, performing nationally and touring abroad. One of the most recorded artists in South Africa, he has featured on more than 40 albums across genres.

Andile Yenana
While studying in Durban, Yenana became part of its jazz scene, forming relationships with Zim Ngqawana and Feya Faku. He recorded on all of Ngqawana’s albums starting with San Song (1996). His debut We Used to Dance (2002) preceded receiving the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz in 2005. His music draws deeply from South Africa’s cultural heritage, often incorporating traditional Xhosa melodies and rhythm.

Megan-Geoffrey Prins
Originally from Riversdale, South Africa, Prins made his concerto debut at the age of 11 and has since performed with orchestras in Germany, the United States, Botswana and South Africa. His 2019 performances of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 were widely praised for their technical precision and transcendent interpretation. In 2019, he was named the Standard Bank Young Artist for Music. He currently serves as a full-time piano lecturer at the University of Pretoria School of the Arts.

Taíssa Marchese
Artistically known as Taíssa Poliakova Cunha, Marchese is a pianist distinguished by interpretative depth and versatility across Russian Romantic, Portuguese, and contemporary repertoire. She has built an international career performing across Europe and Brazil, appearing with the Orquestra do Norte, Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the State University of Londrina, presenting repertoire from the classical canon to contemporary works. She maintains a strong academic and pedagogical profile, with teaching experience in Portugal and Brazil.

And so do not say you have been not told about this festival that really features top talent in piano music, well curated and hoisted by a venue well known for its top acoustics, as it is known for featuring some of the most refined to musicians.

 .Tickets are available via Webtickets. Click here.