Rosa choir has started their 2026 season on a high note with a host of fresh voices, exciting projects on the go and, at the forefront of it all, a new musical director. Denzil Jacobs, 39, was formally appointed in March 2026.
He met his new charges at the Artscape theatre’s resource centre on Saturday March 28, taking them through some breathing exercises and vocal warm-ups and, after dividing the choir into various singing voices, teaching them a bit of the song, Ndisondela Kuwe.
Rosa choir, which was started in 2012 and is one of the Cape Cultural Collective’s nine programmes, officially started weekly Saturday practices on April 11. They are rehearsing for their first professional video, which will be recorded in May.
A choir member all his life and now a full-time professional music teacher, Denzil was initially a reluctant musician. Rosa choir has Denzil’s family to thank for nudging him in the right direction. “To tell the truth, at first I wasn’t interested but was forced to be as we have a musical family background.” His mother, Mary Davonia Jacobs, is an alto choir singer, his elder sister Malicia Jacobs, plays all the recorders and the piano, and his uncles and aunts are involved in choir and orchestra conducting as well as singing and playing instruments. At the age of 6, Denzil’s mum and dad, Daniel Jacobs, sent him to music classes but he looked for any excuse to dodge lessons. It was all thanks to patience from Malicia that the music bug bit. She had started learning music before Denzil and inspired him to hone his talent. “She was the one who sat with me and helped me,” he said. “She could already read music by the time I started.”
He took professional music classes at the age of 12, finishing Trinity Grade 4 with the help of a teacher in Rocklands. At Sunday school, he sang and played the descant recorder. It was also at Sunday school that he began as a conductor from a young age, eventually moving to adult choirs, then primary and high school choirs. He would love to see the Rosa choir rise up to be one of the city’s top choirs. He wants to train the singers to channel their feelings into the songs. “Music is the language that touches souls, and the beautiful message music has, we want to share it.”
Denzil plays all the recorders, a little bit of clarinet, trumpet, silver flute and piano, with the church pipe organ being his major instrument. He has earned a music diploma from Stellenbosch University as a pipe organ and piano student, and a certificate in choral conducting. “I always make sure I keep myself up-to-date with workshops to gain more experience. In 2025, I attended four eisteddfod choral conducting workshops.” Classical music, pop, and local jazz top his list of favourite genres, while his favourite artists are music writer and director, David Foster, as well as Alicia Keys and John Legend. A baritone singing voice himself, Denzil wants the choir to know that he is fully committed to them. “I will only give my best by preparing for sessions, getting some nice repertoire together, making learning fun and sessions too, and upskilling myself to be a benefit to them.” Denzil is a through and through person of the ’Plain, growing up in New Lentegeur and matriculating from Lentegeur Senior Secondary in 2005. He lives in Beacon Valley with wife, Jessica, and their three daughters, Jia, 13, and 11-year-old twins, Mia and Liah.
Besides music, he also loves the IT world, helping in school computer labs to fix computers and printers. He follows football and rugby, supporting Liverpool and the Springboks. It’s safe to say that Rosa choir is in good hands, with a maestro from Mitchell’s Plain at the helm. On Saturday April 25, Rosa choir will entertain residents of Cheshire Home in Penlyn Estate. Rosa choir sings in isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans.
For more information on the Rosa choir, contact Kay Jaffer on 082 202 3131. Email the Cape Cultural Collective on capeculturalcollective@gmail.com
