Hendrik Hofmeyr

Hendrik Pienaar Hofmeyr (born 20 November 1957) is a South African composer. Born in Cape Town, he studied at the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, obtaining a BMus in 1979 and an MMus in 1991. He furthered his studies in Italy during 10 years of self-imposed exile as a conscientious objector, obtaining State Diplomas in Piano (Florence), Composition (Bologna) and Conducting (Florence) While there, he was awarded the Zucchelli Prize for Composition at the Bologna Conservatorio two years running and also won the South African Opera Competition with The Fall of the House of Usher. He also received the annual Nederburg Prize for Opera for this work subsequent to its performance at the State Theatre in Pretoria in 1988. In the same year, he obtained first prize in an international competition in Italy with music for a short film by Wim Wenders. He returned to South Africa in 1992, taking up a post as lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch. In 1997, he won two major international composition competitions, the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition of Belgium (with ‘Raptus’ for violin and orchestra) and the first edition of the Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition