Being a great admirer of musicology and the academics, Johannes is currently working towards his PhD (Musicology) through the conservatory of the North-West University

“Although the Western art music academic canon suggests that it does not seem to be feasible to pursuit authenticity, my personal artistic beliefs justifies this pursuit to an unarguable degree.” – J. M. Slabbert

Published Works

Don Giovanni Alla Breve – Retaining Authenticity in Lorenzo Da Ponte’s Libretto?

Don Giovanni Alla Breve forms part of a new venture into opera performance that eliminates all the recitativi secchi from the original work and replaces it with dialogue presented in three of the eleven official South African languages: English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. Furthermore, merely the musical “highlights” are employed within the reduced production, resulting in a drastically shortened, dramatised concert version of Mozart and Da Ponte’s Don Giovanni. Johannes observes this production through the lens of authenticity in Western art music performance whilst critically engaging with current debates surrounding the aforementioned topic. His argument towards an authentic Don Giovanni Alla Breve gains focus through a discussion on authenticity in opera, followed by a symposium on authenticity in opera libretti specifically, whilst concluding with a discussion on authenticity in Don Giovanni’s libretto as such. Not fully satisfied with the outcome of this discussion, he anchors his argument towards an authentic Don Giovanni Alla Breve by pursuing the anthropologically related field of popular culture.

Current Works

Exploring the vocal transition from lyric baritone to spintotenor through action and performative research.

This study explores the vocal strategies used to remedy technical aspects of Johannes’ personal singing practice through action research which will endeavour to facilitate his personal transition from lyric baritone to Spinto tenor. It aims to explore the understanding of what “correct” vocal technique means through performative research when the techniques learned from the action research segment of the study, are applied to the author’s upcoming performances. These performances include the operatic roles of Eric in R. Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, White Man in P. L. van Dijk’s Mandela Trilogy and The First Armoured Man in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, as presented by Cape Town Opera in their 2017 season.