The Winelands Philharmonic Orchestra is more than simply an orchestra, discovers MARGUERITE VAN WYK. It’s a community orchestra that, under conductor Reghardt Kühn, brings people together through the shared joy of classical music.
Community lies close to the heart of up-and-coming conductor Reghardt Kühn, who founded the Winelands Philharmonic Orchestra (WPO) in 2022. The epitome of a gentleman, Reghardt is soft spoken and unassuming when we chat at one of his favourite venues, the restaurant at the Rust-en- Vrede Gallery and Clay Museum in Durbanville.
He is also passionate about making an impact on the community. “The orchestra is about connection,” he says. “Coffee breaks during three-hour rehearsals are so important because the members need to interact, to share joys and to vent. The WPO needs to be a space where we can recharge. And ultimately it is our mission to spread all the goodwill that we ourselves experience.”
When the ANC removed music from the primary school curriculum, all-round musician Hugh Masakela was furious – and Reghardt was impressed by this reaction when he read about it in the autobiography Still Grazing: The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela (co-written with D. Michael Cheers). “Music education teaches discipline, it helps us to express who we are, and it is well known that music and sport are great unifiers,” he believes.
The WPO has reached out to many youngsters since its founding in 2022. At Riebeek Kasteel’s Solo Studios arts festival in 2023 and 2024, it shared the stage with the young musicians of the Steelband Project, an initiative that fosters music education and has been nurturing young talent for the past nine years.
“In 2025 our Summer Harvest Concert, part of the Endler Concert Series in Stellenbosch, highlighted the work of Muzukidz and the opportunities that an education in music can create for children who would otherwise not have access to instrumental tuition,” he says. Muzukidz, a South African non-profit organisation, was established in Cape Town in 2015 and provides free, intensive violin tuition to children from underserved communities.
Before its Grand Garden Gala concert in Stanford in 2025, the WPO held workshops for the young musicians of the Creative Skills Factory. Another non-profit organisation, it offers programmes to
improve teaching in the Overstrand community of the Overberg.
The youth music initiative Die Kop Music Group performed with the WPO at the concert. Reflecting on such events, Reghardt is grateful that the WPO has had opportunities like these to pave the way for future generations of youngsters wanting to enter the music realm.
This year, at the WPO’s winter performance at the Endler Hallin Stellenbosch, it was clear from the smiling faces of the young musicians – and of those in the audience from Jamestown, Cloetesville and surrounding communities who cheered them on – that all the youngsters had a great time.
Reghardt hopes that by inviting learners and their families to attend concerts free of charge will spark excitement for musical development.
“For many of these youngsters, seeing a full symphony orchestra is a first. This gives them the opportunity to dream, to imagine themselves on the stage in the future. But it’s not enough to expose them to concerts. We have to follow up, to create practical pathways to orchestral music, to make them believe that they can be part of the musical future of South Africa.”
Reghardt enjoys practising once a week with the 60 passionate amateur musicians of the WPO. He is adamant, though, that the fact that they’re amateurs does not compromise the quality of performance. “The word ‘amateur’ has its roots in the Latin amare, ‘to love’. All the members of the orchestra are well trained, driven and passionate about music.’’
He finds it fascinating to work with musicians from all walks of life: students, a dentist, a lawyer, economics professors, IT specialists, human resource managers, teachers, accountants … And they, in turn, appreciate his contribution. Cornelia Casaleggio, a violinist and the WPO’s orchestra manager, says that what makes Reghardt special is not just his musical excellence, but the quiet confidence he exudes, the support he gives to the orchestra’s members and the selfless way he invests in them, inspiring them to reach their full potential.
Reghardt himself admits that conducting an orchestra such as the WPO – often tackling challenging music, yet seeing the joy it brings to players and audiences alike – has made him grow. “Being a conductor ensures a cumulative process of musical growth.”
He wants to expose audiences, and his orchestra, to lesser-known classical works as well as the musical crowd-pleasers. “It is my responsibility to use the WPO as an instrument to expose audiences to the dynamic world of classical music.”
Reghardt’s career in music began at Empangeni High School, where he learned piano, euphonium and trombone. As a trombonist and euphonist in the KZN Youth Orchestra, he travelled to the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival during his matric year. It was then that he realised that he hadn’t chosen music; music had chosen him.
After achieving a BMus degree at Stellenbosch University in 2013, he went on to study for his MMus under the tutelage of the Romanian professor, Corvin Matei, completing it in 2019.
Watching YouTube clips of conducting legends such as Daniel Barenboim and Herbert von Karajan inspires Reghardt endlessly. “But sometimes one can also learn from watching bad conductors,” he says and laughs. He has received several conducting masterclasses from the world’s greats, like Victor Yampolsky, Evgeny Bushkov, Daniel Raiskin and Daniel Boico. Dutch conductor Arjan Tien, who became the principal guest conductor of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2026, has been one of his greatest ‘technical’ teachers.
Nowadays, he has to juggle his time carefully. In 2014 he was appointed the resident conductor of the Stellenbosch University Medical Orchestra, where he met his wife, Louié. For the past 10 years he has been music teacher at Paarl Boys’ High. A founding member of the Stellenbosch City Orchestra in 2017, he is also assistant conductor of the University of Stellenbosch’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble and its Youth Orchestra. People joke that Louié is a percussionist in his orchestras as that is the only time she gets to see him.
Reghardt refers to his wife, a medical doctor, as the ‘compass’ of the WPO. “She approaches every problem with reason and compassion,” he says, adding that “Cornelia is the ‘lighthouse’, a navigational beacon that warns ships to avoid dangerous coastlines.”
Ideally, he would like to become a full-time professional conductor. He was a finalist in the fourth triennial Len van Zyl Conductors’ Competition (now the South African Conductors’ Competition) in 2018. “Regrettably, there aren’t many opportunities for young conductors in South Africa. That is one of the reasons why I am so thankful to work with the WPO and for the opportunities to make a
difference here.”