Rike on Sax

Rike Coetzer is an experienced saxophonist who has performed with some top, diverse artists across South Africa and beyond.  She performs as soloist with backtracks with a repertoire ranging from Classical to Pop and Jazz, as part of the popular saxophone / violin duo Intrique, or with Afro-pop act Ethnix

Rike started her music education at the age of six, playing the piano and later the oboe, and took up the alto saxophone at the age of nineteen.  The sax became her main instrument, and as learner and student, she performed in various youth orchestras, as well as with the SAAF Glenn Miller big band, and a popular saxophone quartet.  Her first professional engagement was a residency at Centurion Lake Hotel, and she subsequently performed on a freelance basis with various groups, from pop bands  to string quartets and big bands, including Avalanche, Scandal, Worx, Velocity, The Worx, and Southern Glow.

Rike regularly performed with Afrikaans singer Mathys Roets at music festivals including Aardklop, KKNK and Grahamstown, and recorded the live album "Hy’s ons man" with songs of Leonard Cohen and Koos du Plessis. She did studio work for Mathys’ other albums and for “Drie van die Bestes”, and played at the launch of Angolan singer Tony N’Guxi’s album "Kazeze".

Other career highlights include:

• Being a semi-finalist for the Crescendo Music Competition 2001 for one of her own compositions.
• Performing at the famous “Jazz Bar” at the Hilton Abu Dhabi in the UAE for two years with Cape Town band Southern Glow 
• Performing with the band “The Worx” at the Royal Mirage Hotel in Dubai
• Various Barnyard Theatre shows since 2004, including Roll over Beethoven, The Piano Boys, Boogie Wonderland, Forever Young, Tonight’s the Night, Rock around the Clock and Bloubloed en Biltong
• Releasing her own album, which features some of  her own instrumental compositions and arrangements of songs.