Prof. WERNER NEL
Werner Nel was born in Stettin, Germany and immigrated in 1948 as a young boy to South Africa. He started his musical studies and vocal training at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
In 1969 he was awarded scholarships by DAAD (Germany) and SAMRO (South Africa) for further studies abroad and was accepted into the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich. Here he studied under the well-known German teacher, Prof. Hanno Blaschke.
Werner Nel won a prize at the International Vocal Competition at s'Hertogenbosch in 1970 and in 1971 he was awarded the Felix Mendelssohn Prize for Singing in Berlin. In the same year he was engaged by the Gelsenkirchen Opera and during that time sang in several concerts and recorded for the radio networks of Hilversum, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.
Three years later he returned to South Africa where he was appointed in the Department of Music at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, where he is at present Associate Professor of Vocal Studies.
He is especially well-known as a lieder and concert singer and has received much acclaim for his interpretation of the great Schubert song cycles, e.g. Winterreise, Die schöne Müllerin and Schwanengesang. To these successes he added several Schumann song cyles. With Brahms' Die schöne Magelone he confirmed his mastery of the German Lied when he performed this cycle for the first time at the Roodepoort Civic Theater in 1984, to considerable acclaim. He was twice nominated for the SABC Artes Award for his contribution to the advancement of serious music and in 1987 received the Artes Award for his outstanding recording of Die schöne Magelone. In 1994 he and Albie van Schalkwyk released his first CD recording with songs by Beethoven, Schubert and Loewe. Furthermore, he is no stranger to the opera stage, having successfully sung the baritone leads in Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, L'Elisir d'Amore, I Pagliacci, Die Fledermaus, Faust and Turandot.
Apart from his artistic achievements, he is also one of South Africa's leading pedagogues in singing. Many of his students have won national and international prizes, the most prestigious of these being the ARD International Singing Competition (Munich 1992) by André Howard. Erica Eloff won the Cocours Internatioaux de chant & d’Art Lyrique (Paris 2003) and the Handel Competition (2008 London). Jacques Imbrailo won The Richard Tauber Competition (2004 London) and the audience prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World (2006 Cardiff).
His most successful student is Kobie van Rensburg who enjoys an international singing career. One of the highlights was his performances at the Metropolitan Opera in Rodelinde (Handel 2004) and Idomineo (Mozart 2005).
On invitation Werner Nel has presented several master classes and workshops for singers in South Africa, Namibia and in Oslo (2005). He has often served on both national and international juries at Vocal Competitions. (1996 - ARD Singing Competition)
In 2003 the Potchefstroom University of CHE, now known as the North West University (Potchefstroom Campus) honoured him by awarding a Doctor Musicae (Honoris Causa) in 2003. The South African Academy for Arts and Science awarded the Huberte Rupert Prize for his contribution to Classical Art in South Africa.
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