SA: National Youth Jazz Band appoints first female conductor

Tiffin is the first woman to assume the role of Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band conductor.

“When Amanda Tiffin leads the newly chosen group of young musicians, she will be joining a long line of visionary conductors and musicians such as Zim Ngqawana, Darius Brubeck, Barney Rachabane and Carlo Mombelli who have helped train generations of South African jazz greats,” the SBJF organisers said.

Tiffin was born in Zimbabwe and studied jazz composition and performance at the University of Cape Town where she received a master’s degree with distinction.

She has performed extensively as a vocalist and pianist and appeared in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007. She has also toured Japan, Taiwan and France and was the runner-up for the 2005 SAMRO Scholarship for Composers.

“An important part of what makes the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band successful is precisely our youth focus. Students and young musicians get unprecedented access and opportunity to learn from an array of top jazz musicians from across the world," SBJF director Alan Webster said.

“They also get to build lifelong career relationships with their peers from around the country. The testament of the festival’s success is in the quality of the students who’ve been through it over the years.”

More than 300 of the country’s top young musicians between the ages of 19 and 25 will take part in a training and development programme from 27 June to 2 July, when the members of the band will be selected.

This year, visiting US trumpeter and the coordinator of jazz studies at Georgia State University, Prof Gordon Vernick, will lead the Standard Bank National Schools Big Band.

Now in its 31st edition, the SBJF is the oldest jazz festival on the African continent and is known for training, developing and producing a world class programme of performances. This year's SBJF will also feature South African Music Award winners Samthing Soweto, Amanda Black and Thandi Ntuli, while Tiffin will perform alongside Zenzi Makeba Lee, granddaughter of the late Miriam Makeba.