Charl du Plessis

Steinway Artist Charl du Plessis recently launched the first in a series of projects to honour great musicians who most inspired him. Growing up in Bloemfontein Charl first came into contact with the rare piano style of veteran pianist Japie Human. The elaborate arrangements and virtuoso style of Human’s recordings served as a great source of inspiration for Charl but has never been available to the general public.

After permission was granted to use recordings from the personal archives of Japie Human, a collaboration with Salon Productions saw the launch of a best-of  double disc compilation CD set by this wizard of the keys. Piano Kaleidoscope celebrates the most popular recordings of classical compositions and novelty piano pieces as performed by Japie Human. This legend in the history of multi talented masters of music presents some of his best recordings of the past 40 years featuring favourites by Schumann, Gershwin and Liszt as well as musical jewels in the form of Pianola arrangements by Zez Confrey and Billy Mayerl to name but a few.

Pretoria audiences will have the privilege of a single live performance of Japie Human at the Brooklyn Theatre on Sunday 12 December at 15:00. This once-in-a-lifetime concert will feature music from Piano Kaleidoscope and will host the talents of Zanta Hofmeyr and Charl du Plessis who will team up in duet performances with Japie Human .

Piano Kaleidoscope can be purchased from Salon Music, Shop 28 in Brooklyn Mall Pretoria (012 346 3474) or by visiting www.salonmusic.co.za.