Gé Korsten

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Gé Korsten, 1956

Gérard Korsten , known as Gé Korsten (born December 6, 1927 in Rotterdam , Netherlands , † September 29, 1999 in Wilderness , South Africa ) was a South African tenor singer and actor .

Korsten was born in Rotterdam and was the youngest of eight children. At the age of nine, he emigrated to South Africa with his family. He married Elna Burger and had five children, including the renowned conductor and violinist Gérard Korsten .

Career

Korsten initially worked as an electrician. At the age of 20 he started singing in choirs. He received his first singing lessons in 1952 from Adelheid Armhold at the South African College of Music .

In 1955 he moved to Pretoria where he was one of the founding members of The Pretoriase Operagroep . In 1956 he made his debut as Canio in Ruggero Leoncavallos Pagliacci .

In 1962 Korsten won a scholarship to study in Vienna , where he received lessons from Judith Hellwig. During this time he had the opportunity to perform in Vienna and Munich , but for family reasons he never sang professionally outside of South Africa . It was not until 1970 that Korsten sold his business in order to devote himself entirely to singing. During his operatic career he has appeared on the stage more than 3,000 times, playing 23 roles in most major operas.

In 1965 Korsten began his career in light music. His debut album was called Gé Korsten sing uit die hart (German: Gé Korsten sings from the heart). His records soon became bestsellers. In his 40-year career, he released 58 albums, nine of which achieved gold status. Most of his recordings are Afrikaans light music, including the song “Liefling” (German: Liebling), which is still played at rugby games in Bloemfontein and Pretoria. He also sang foreign folk songs like the German marching song Erika in his native language, which is played in the film Kruger Miljoene .

Korsten's popularity as a singer also earned him leading roles in films, for example Hoor my lied (German: Hör mein Lied), Lied in my hart (German: Song in my heart) and A New Life (German: A new life), whereby every film contains singing scenes with Korsten. He received six Sarie Awards and in 1979 an ARTES Award for his TV program Gé sing (German: Gé singt).

In his later life, Korsten was best known for his role as family patriarch Walt Vorster in the South African soap opera Egoli: Place of Gold .

In 1985 Korsten was appointed managing director of the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) in Cape Town . He held this post until 1989.

In 1999 Korsten committed suicide.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Poppie Mphuthing: The Times profiles the Lifetime Achievement nominees: Gé Korsten . In: Sunday Times , April 17, 2008. Archived from the original on January 9, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2009. 
personal data
SURNAME Korsten, Gé
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Korsten, Gérard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African tenor singer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotterdam , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1999
Place of death Wilderness , South Africa