Michael Blake at 60

South African composer Michael Blake will be turning 60 this month and the occasion is being marked locally with a number of events.

DOMUS (Documentation Centre for Music, University of Stellenbosch) is hosting a concert by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet at the SABC Auditorium in Sea Point, Cape Town on Sunday 16 October at 16h30.

DOMUS is also hosting a symposium on Blake's work on Saturday 29 October at Stellenbosch University.

The Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology at UNISA, where where Blake is a Research Fellow, is also hosting a concert by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. This takes place in the Dr Miriam Makeba Concert Hall at UNISA on Thursday 20 October at 19h30.

And on Friday 21 October Blake will give a seminar on his work at the UNISA Sunnyside Campus at 11h00.

While they are in Cape Town the Fitzwilliam Quartet will record three of Michael Blake's works for CD release in early 2012 - namely the first two quartets and the piano quintet, all written for the Fitzwilliams. Along with music by Shostakovich and Percy Grainger, these works will be heard in the concerts, with the composer as pianist in the quintet.