Peter Klatzow

Peter Klatzow was born in Springs, South Africa, in 1945. In 1964 he attended the Royal College of Music in London. He spent the following years in Italy and Paris, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger. Since returning to South Africa in 1966, he has worked at the SABC in Johannesburg as a music producer, and in 1973 was appointed to the University of Cape Town. In 1986 he was elected to the rank of Fellow of the University of Cape Town. He was awarded his DMus in 1999 and the Cape Tercentenary Foundation’s Molteno gold medal for lifetime achievement in Music in 2002.

One of the few South African composers to achieve international recognition, Peter Klatzow has won prizes in Spain, the UK and Canada, and his works have been performed in various European centres and in the USA. Recent commissions include 'The World of Paul Klee (III)', composed for the opening of the new Paul Klee Centre in Berne, Switzerland, a celebratory 'Te Deum' for the 100th anniversary of St George's Cathedral, Cape Town and 'Towards the Light', a work for double choir, marimba and organ commissioned for the opening of the new Peabody concert hall (USA) in April 2004. He was commissioned by UCT to provide a short opera for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the SACM, and by SAMRO to compose a setting of Thabo Mbeki’s speech “I am an African” in September 2011. That same year year he also attended a major festival of his marimba works in Tokyo, where he also lectured at the Tokyo Music School.

His discography includes 'From the Poets', 'Return of the Moon', 'Towards the Light'. and 'Myths, Magic and Marimbas' (2006). In 2011 the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns awarded him the Huberte Rupert music prize for his lifetime work. More recently, Peter attended a major international event, 'Peter Klatzow in the City', which was held for a week in Rotterdam, premiering his new work 'Night Sky with Illuminations'. In 2014 Klatzow was once again awarded the Helgaard Steyn prize for his work 'Lightscapes', commissioned for The World Marimba Festival in Stuttgart in 2012. He is now retired from UCT, where remains a Professor Emeritus. He has also been appointed Composer in Residence for the 2015 Johannesburg International Mozart Festival.