Flute and Piano Duo

North-West University’s School of Music presents an evening of expressive lyricism and virtuosity in a flute and piano recital featuring internationally acclaimed flautist Cobus du Toit and pianist Tinus Botha. The programme spans a century of music imbued with colour and imagination, inviting listeners into a sound world where the flute’s voice sings, soars, and whispers alongside the piano’s resonant depth.

The recital opens with Philippe Gaubert’s Fantaisie, a hallmark of the French flute tradition that glows with impressionistic nuance and effortless lyricism. Du Toit’s dazzling solo performance of Iain Clarke’s The Great Train Race showcases the modern flute’s full palette of extended techniques and rhythmic brilliance. The duo then turns to Eldin Burton’s Sonatine, a mid-twentieth-century gem of charm and expressive warmth, followed by Gareth McLEarnon’s Saudade, a 2026 composition that was written for and dedicated to Cobus. It is subtitled “a bittersweet little number for alto flute & piano”.

The evening culminates with César Franck’s majestic Sonata in A major, performed in the celebrated flute transcription of this Romantic masterpiece. Through its sweeping emotional arc—from intimacy to exaltation—Botha and Du Toit explore the sonata’s spiritual and structural grandeur with insight and artistry. This concert promises an experience of poetic contrast, technical mastery, and deep musical communication between two distinguished performers.