A young composer, musician and music tutor from Somerset West has made it as one of the top five finalists in this year’s Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s (CPO’s) SA Composers Competition, hosted for the third time this year.

Anthonie Jansen van Rensburg, 26, originally from Durbanville, but now living in Somerset West, has with his composition, People, Space, Time won a chance to compete for the top spot.

A finalist in the inaugural competition, Anthonie says he was pleasantly surprised to make the cut this year. This year’s entry, he says, is focused on undertaking a different approach to his works, particularly in incorporating South African music into the orchestra or concert hall space.

For this former Durbanville High School pupil, who completed his musical studies at Stellenbosch University, being exposed on such a major platform and surrounded by a high level of excellence among South African composers, makes it an exciting part of his career.

Anthonie is a huge fan of musician Mandisi Dyantyis and had a moving experience listening to his song, Angalil' umama, while he was in the creation of his competition entry. He was inspired to borrow from the South African feel and musical style of Dyantyis’ song.

The aim was being to produce a South African inspired, yet authentic musical piece; a piece he is excited to bring to audiences at the competition.

“My piece actually lies in with what Antoni Schonken said about this year’s competition,” Anthonie says.

Anthonie refers to a statement made by convenor of the judging panel Schonken in a media release issued by the CPO.

In the statement Schonken said: “This year’s competition highlights a particularly exciting trend: young composers are showing a growing interest in writing for orchestra.

“What stands out even more is the stronger focus on exploring local South African styles and techniques in their work. This is a promising sign for the future of composition in South Africa, as it reflects both innovation and a deep engagement with our unique musical heritage.”

A competition highlight Anthonie looks forward to is making music with the other members of the orchestra. “Working with the orchestra is such a wonderful experience. The overall quality in the orchestra is very high and it just keeps getting better. I’m honoured and excited to be part of the group,” he says.

Since starting classical flute lessons at the age of nine, Anthonie’s love for music has only grown and intensified over the years and expressing this musical talent in composing, has been most rewarding. “The quality of our South African composers is just fantastic; it’s an experience in itself.”

The judges on the panel for this year’s competition are composers Pieter Bezuidenhout, Amy Crankshaw, Arthur Feder, Clare Loveday and Lise Morrison with non-voting chairman Hendrik Hofmeyr and Schonken.

Audiences are invited to attend the competition’s performance on Sunday March 15, at 7pm at the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre. The competition will also be streamed live. Musical direction will be done by Jeremy Silver.

Anthonie invites audiences to attend the event. “I think it’s going to be a brilliant, fresh, and balanced experience and even if you’re not big on classical themed style music I would still invite you to come out and enjoy the music.”

Winning the competition would be the start of a new musical chapter for him. “It would be beyond fantastic and would give me the time and credibility to put more time into my music. I would have the opportunity to play around with a lot of ideas that sort of get pushed to the back of my mind,” he says.

Areas he is particularly passionate about is exploring innovative ways to fuse electronic jazz elements into orchestra sounds.