CARINA THE PERFORMER
Carina Bruwer is one of the most highly publicized young musicians in the country. She is a versatile soloist known for seamlessly fusing classical and contemporary styles (jazz, Latin and ethnic) in her performances. She currently performs exclusively with the instrumental supergroup STERLING EQ.
Carina received the degree B.Mus(Hons) cum laude from the University of Stellenbosch in 2003, having studied Flute Performance under Eva Tamassy. She also holds a UNISA Performers Licentiate which she received with highest distinction. She received her Jazz training from well-known Cape Town Jazz pianist Mertyn Barrow at the Cape Town "Jazz Workshop". While a student at the Stellenbosch Conservatoire, she annually received academic excellence awards, numerous Conservatoire prizes and bursaries, and in 2002 she was awarded Academic Colours from the University.
Carina has won numerous music awards, including the ATKV Muziq Category Prize, Distell Music Prize, Huguenot Prize, UNISA Overseas Study Bursary runner-up prize, plus SAMRO prizes for her interpretation of Hendrik Hofmeyer’s Flute Concerto. She has performed as soloist with the Cape Philharmonic, Kwazulu Natal Philharmonic and University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestras.
Her solo shows have been well received at venues and festivals around the country; including the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, KKNK, Baxter Theatre and HB Thom. In October 2004 she toured Tunisia during President Thabo Mbeki’s inaugural visit to the country, performing to many ministers, dignitaries, the two State Presidents, and members of the public. She received raving reviews for the concerts in which she performed solo Classical pieces of the highest standard, followed by traditional music and Jazz standards which she performed together with an Afro-Jazz trio from Soweto . At the 2005 Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, her show “Carina Bruwer – Classical Recital” was nominated for a coveted Kanna award.
Carina has performed with some of SA’s top musicians, including Judith Sepuma, PJ Powers, Vicky Samson, DNA Strings, Nina Schumann, Mertyn Barrow, Anmarie can der Westhuizen, and many more. As session musician she has been involved in numerous recording projects (commercial CD's and movie soundtracks), and she has appeared on television on several occasions (including lifestyle inserts on the SABC2 magazine programme Pasella, and Kyknet's Kwela). She has been an ad hoc member of the Cape Film Orchestra, “Phantom of the Opera” Orchestra , the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the late National Chamber Orchestra and the SAAPA Orchestra; she was principal flautist of the University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra in 2001, a member of the National Youth Symphony Orchestra 2001, and she appeared as a guest with the London Chamber Players in 2001.
Most important featured / solo performances
- 2002 Soloist with Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, giving Cape Town premiere of Hendrik Hofmeyr’s Flute Concerto
- 2001 Soloist with Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Mozart Flute concerto
- 2005 Gala Benefit Concert for the African AIDS Centre, HB Thom Stellenbosch
- 2004 “Flute for Thought” in the Baxter, Cape Town
- 2005 “Carina Bruwer – Classical Recital” nominated for Kanna award at Klein Karoo National Arts Festival. “Carina Bruwer – Cosmopolitan Flute Spectacular” receives good reviews at the same festival
- 2002-4 “Flute for Thought” at Hermanus Whale Festival and Grahamstown National Arts Festival
- Principal flute on soundtrack of U-Carmen eKhayelitsha
- 2002/3 UNISA Overseas Study Competition Gala Concert and prize winner
