Beau Soleil Music Centre
Special Education in Cape Town

The Beau Soleil Music Centre was started in 1982 by the Western Cape Education Department to meet the needs of specialised instrumental music tuition in the Cape Town area. The Music Centre has an ensemble programme of four Wind Ensembles, a Strings Quartet, a Wind Quintet, a Brass Ensemble, four Percussion ensembles, four String Ensembles, two Saxophone Quartets and a Jazz Band. Tuition is provided by 8 full-time members of staff and 29 part time instrumental specialist teachers drawn from the top performing instrumentalists in Cape Town. From the initial 100 pupils, the Centre has grown to its current capacity of ± 400 pupils. Since 1999 Beau Soleil has been actively involved in a variety of developmental projects including the highly successful Ifidyoli String Project, and in 2003 established the Beau Soleil Music for Africa Trust to support the Centre’s main activities, by creating music opportunities for the learners that could not otherwise afford to attend.