Description

Medium tall hybrid tea with firm petalled, elegant porcelain pink, shapely blooms which change to a deeper pink towards the centre.

The rose is prolific & its dark green foliage is disease resistant. A good picking rose.

Zanta Hofmeyr is a celebrated South African violinist.

Plant Height: Shoulder Height
Colours: Pink , Soft pink
Uses: Bedding, Cut-flowers

Zanta Hofmeyr is one of South Africa’s most renowned violinists. She is the eldest of 8 children

born to Jan and Elma Hofmeyr in 1962 on the West Rand. Her parents were church organists

and pianists in their spare time and ensured that all their children learnt to play the piano or

another musical instrument so at age 7 Zanta started piano lessonsand chose violin at 10,

because, in her words, “there was a violin at home and…the instrument’s difficulty was what

hooked me”. Her first teacher was Eva Jeskova and later Vincent Frittelli, then the SABC’s

concert master, who focused on technique and who had been taught by Ivan Galamienwho had

also taught such performers as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Daniel Heifetz. When she

was 15, a scholarship to the Interlocken Festival in Michigan over nine weeks and time with the

World Youth Orchestra doing music from 7am to 10pm decided her future as a musician. She

said “Nothing would make you practise as hard as a competition, so it lifts your level of

performance” and so it was that through winning several competitions in her matric year,Zanta

was able to study at the Juilliard School of music in New York.In 1985 after graduating, her New

York debut was at Carneige Recital Hall as a winner of the Artists International Competition.

The fascinating story of how she acquired her violin can be found on her blog at

www.zantahofmeyr.co.za

Zanta is a prolific performer and teacher in South Africa and abroad and her extensive recital

repertoire has, as a highlight, her performance of the 10 Beethoven sonatas for piano and

violin.Apart from recitals with various pianists and symphony orchestras in South Africa,she has

been involved with the Wits Trio for 20 years, is a strong advocate of new compositions, and

has collaborated with some of South Africa’s foremost jazz musicians. In South Africa there are

no agents for classical musicians so building a career depends on your own initiative.Hence

Zanta is passionate about supporting young talent and has been a violin teacher since she

finished her own studies. She has served on the faculties of the universities of North-West, Wits

and Pretoria.She is a patron of the Thabang Kammino project hosted by St Matthew’s School in

Soweto. The music project, run by the Sisters of Mercy since 2000 was started by a nun who is

now in her 80’s but feels “that every child should be exposed to a musical education to plant

seeds in young people’s sensibilities.”Zanta received the Rapport/City Press Woman of the Year

2004 and was particularly honoured when Ludwig presented her with her Zanta Hofmeyr rose

in 2003. It is fitting that a soft, delicately coloured rose should be named after this outstanding

musician who in Ludwig’s words “is a soft, gentle and delicate person, just like a rose” (from an

article Music and Roses published in Rosa Annual 2002).Zanta says of roses “Shape, contour,

colour and contrast all fit into the overall composition with music as with a beautiful bloom.

Music is a vehicle for emotion andnothing touches people like a beautiful sound…or looking at a

beautiful rose.” (from the Pretoria News 22March 2003) Both these articles can be found on

Zanta’s website under The Rose