Braam du Toit (*1981), South Africa
Braam grew up up in the countryside town of Swellendam, in the Overberg; and began composing tone poems for piano at the age of 16. He went on to study music at the University of Cape Town and Composition with Peter Klatzow, composing several chamber works during his studies, including tonteldoos – performed at the International Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam in 2002; and trips songs – a series of miniatures depicting scenes on a road, commissioned for the Sontonga String Quartet.
He is particularly interested in collaborative theater work. Working with leading South African directors including Marthinus Basson, Janice Honeyman, Lara Foot Newton and Lara Bye, he has written music for more than 20 theatre, dance and performance theatre productions. He has worked extensively with director Jaco Bouwer, collaborating on several award-winning productions, and has explored musical structure in film through the making of two short films - singende sand and vloedlyn.
His compositions have been performed, by musicians of varying disciplines, around the world.
Braam received the Priaulx Rainier Composition Award and the Peter Klatzow Prize for Composition, in 2001.
He wrote the score for Darrell Roodt’s award-winning film Meisie, and won the award for ‘Best Music’ at the Seoul Drama Festival for the series Ella Blue, by the same director.
His soundtrack for Regardt van den Bergh’s feature film Tornado and the Kalahari Horse Whisperer, was awarded ‘Best Music’ at the Monaco Film Festival (2010) and earned a nomination in the category ‘Best Music’ at the 2010 South African Film and Television Awards. He was awarded the Aartvark prize, for ground-breaking new work, at the Aardklop Art’s Festival (2010) for musical direction and composition in Marlene van Niekerk’s Die kortstondige raklewe van Anastasia W directed by Marthinus Basson.
The concert piece Items 1, 2 and 3 for clarinet, marimba and cello was selected for the ‘World New Music Days’, hosted by the International Society for Contemporary Music, in Sydney, in May 2010.