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Carl van Wyk, born in Cape Town, South Africa, commenced undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1964 and completed his Master of Music degree in 1965. That same year he received a symphonic commission from the Cape Performing Arts Board. His work, Derivations won the composer’s competition of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in 1996. In the same year he was awarded the South African Music Rights Organization’s (SAMRO) Overseas Scholarship for Composers and spent 1 year studying with British composer Alan Bush at the Royal Academy of Music in London. During that time his orchestral work, Petrusa Variations, won both the Manson and West awards for composition
Van Wyk returned to South Africa and worked toward his Doctorate of Music degree. His studies in electronic music composition were accelerated by a practical course given by Dutch composer, Henk Badings. Badings was the co-examiner of van Wyk’s doctoral work, completed in 1971. After an initial appointment at the University of Port Elizabeth, Dr. van Wyk joined the staff of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1976 as Senior Lecturer in Music Theory. In 1991 he was appointed Head of the University’s School of Music, serving in this capacity through 1996.
Carl van Wyk has composed more than forty works. His Little Dance for the Piccaninny has been an examination piece in the international piano lists of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. His folk opera, Fiela’s Child, was premiered in September 1993 at the School of Music of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. His African Suite for Children’s Orchestra has proved very popular with audiences and performers. Recently, van Wyk’s Three Paraphrase for Two String Quartets 1996, commissioned by SAMRO, was given its world premiere performance at the Oslo Chamber Music Festival in 1996. The work has enjoyed further performances at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. in January 2000.
He has subsequently been involved in arranging music for a variety of student-based ensembles. The works are designed for the enrichment of the Suzuki environment and includes several World Music offerings.
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