Following the passing away of Mimi Coertse on Monday, 27 April, she was remembered fondly as one of the best classical singers ever to come from South Africa.
She was born in Durban on 12 June 1932. One of her first concerts was at the age of 19 with the late Gé Korsten at the Plastic Theatre in Johannesburg.
In 1953, she was permanently appointed at the State Opera House in Vienna, Austria. Her career soon reached higher heights. On 17 March 1956, she made her debut in the role of the Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflöte by Mozart. Until 1962 she sang this role for more than 500 times in four languages.
In 1966, Mimi was honoured by the President of Austria with the title of “Kammersängerin” of Austria honouring her career of more than 10 years as a permanent member of the Vienna State Opera. This is the highest honour bestowed by the Austrian government on artists.
She sang in numerous opera houses in Europe but was limited due to the boycott against South African artists, due to political reasons.
Apart from international prizes, she received a medal of honour from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for Science and Arts). In 1958 the South-African government honoured her with the Decoration for Meritorious Service for her contribution to the arts. In 1998 the Vroue Landbou Unie (Women’s Agricultural Union) bestowed on her the honour as Artist of the Year.
In 1973 she returned permanently to South Africa. Even before that she realised that many young South African voices in the opera world would be lost if they are not financially supported. When she herself at first went overseas, she had no financial support and realised how tough it was to survive.
Supporting young singers
In 1959 she created the Mimi Coertse bursary for young singers at the University of Pretoria. Later she created the Maria Coertse bursary at the Potchefstroom University for Higher Education (PU for CHE). Although her given name was also Maria, this bursary was named in honour of her mother, who had the same name. In her biography (with the ghost writer, Ian Raper) she later noted that the ‘’bursary became quite strong”
According to Prof. Conroy Cupido, Director of the NWU School of Music, the bursary has expired and is not awarded anymore.
She, however, supported many young Potchefstroom students in other ways.
One of the Potchefstroom students, that she supported was Kobie van Rensburg, who initially studied law at the PU for CHE in the early 1990s. After he took part in one of Coertse’s concerts to promote young singers, she regarded him as the baroque singer of Europe. Van Rensburg sang in many opera houses in Europe, as well as the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In 1999, Prof. Conroy Cupido also took part in a “Debut with Mimi” concert in the State Theatre in Pretoria. This photo of him with Mimi was published on Facebook on 28 September 2016
Visited Potch often
Mimi often visited Potchefstroom.
1968
In 1968 she presented master classes at the Conservatory.
1969
When the PU for CHE celebrated its centenary in 1969, she was invited the take part in a prestigious concert on 2 October 1969.
1980
During the magnificent inaugural concert in the Auditorium in March 1980, she performed as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Anton Hartman.
This photo of Mimi Coertse was taken after the inaugural concert in the Auditorium in March 1980 and was published in Die Besembos of that year.
1981
The next year, she returned for a concert in the Sanlam Auditorium on 8 September 1981. Records noted that 470 tickets were sold for this concert.
The scrapbook of the Auditorium recorded Mimi Coertse’s concert in 1981 with her autograph.
1982
In 1979 the Afrikaanse Studentebond (Afrikaans Student Association) created a choral festival and gave it the name “Kuesta”. This is a combination of “Ku” (the first letters from the word “kuns”) and “esta”, the last letters from the word “fiesta” or festival. Various Afrikaans university campuses served as hosts and in 1982 this honour befell the PU for CHE. Kuesta took place from 23 to 25 August 1982 and various Afrikaans university choirs were included in the list of 10 choirs that took part.
The festival was concluded with a mass choir of 550 members under the baton of Prof. Pieter De Villiers with Mimi Coertse as the soloist. The choir concert was held in the Sanlam Auditorium.
This photo of the mass choir appeared in Die Besembos in 1982. Soloist, Mimi Coertse, stands in front of the 550 choir members.
1984
Prof. Pieter de Villiers, who retired as Head of the Department of Music at the PU for CHE, in 1984, often accompanied her in performances. At the time of his retirement, a concert was given to honour him, wholly dedicated to his own compositions. Apart from Mimi Coertse, Werner Nel, Rina Hugo and the PU University Choir took part in the concert. The last item on the programme was a composition by De Villiers, “Die Here is my Herder” (the Lord is my Shepherd), performed by Coertse, a work she often sang with accompaniment by De Villiers.
2001
After a concert on 21 February, she presented master classes at the Conservatory.
These are by no means the only times that Mimi visited Potchefstroom.
Mimi’s influence still reaches Potch
Even in her old age, Mimi Coertse’s support and influence still reached Potchefstroom. Students of the NWU School of Music yearly take part in Mimi Coertse Musical Competition, hosted by the University of Pretoria and often won or walked away with prizes.
Mimi Coertse with Lebogang Polori, the 2019 winner of the Mimi Coertse Musical Competition at the UP. Lebogang was a student of Dr. Santisa Roos-Viljoen at the NWU School of Music. Photo: Facebook/School of Music
A staff member of the School of Music, Dr. Antoinette Olivier, performed at Mimi Coertse’s the 90th birthday celebrations. This combined photo, taken during that concert, was posted on Facebook on 13 June 2022.
Family ties
Apart from her musical ties with Potchefstroom, Mimi, for decades, had family ties with Potchefstroom.
Prof. Elizabeth Coertse, who was the founder of the School of Nursing at the PU for CHE in 1965, was married to Mimi’s brother, Roelof. They married in 1952, but he passed away in 1957, due to cancer. Their two daughters were three years and 15 months old at the time. Prof. Coertse herself, passed away in 2022 at the age of 93 years. For many years she lived a stone’s throw away from the Conservatory in Van der Hoff Road (Thabo Mbeki).
This photo of Prof. Elizabeth Coertse was taken in 1966. Photo: NWU Records, Archives and Museum
