Masterclasses, Residencies & University Exchanges
Ramon Alexander heads the jazz division at Stellenbosch University and is a scholar of goema rhythm and Cape Jazz history — a repertoire he teaches with the same seriousness he brings to playing it. He works with universities, conservatoires, festivals and youth programmes, in South Africa and abroad.
For institutions, the useful part is usually not a single concert but what can be built around it: students taught, a public performance that pays its way, and — where both sides want it — a standing partnership between two schools.
Formats
Most visits combine several of these. Ramon travels as a soloist, in trio, or as a guest director working with a resident student ensemble.
- Masterclasses and clinics for university and conservatoire students
- Lectures on Cape Jazz history, goema rhythm and South African jazz
- Jazz ensemble, combo and big-band coaching
- Short teaching residencies alongside concert dates
- Student and staff exchange collaborations with music departments
Munich, and what came of it
An example of the model working end to end — concerts, teaching and a formal agreement between two institutions.
In December 2023, Ramon was invited to Germany by Prof. h.c. Martin Zenker of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. Three South African musicians travelled, playing across Germany and Belgium — Munich, Brussels, Steinhöring, Reutlingen, Kempten and Mannheim — with the Goethe-Institut supporting the international travel.
Between the concerts came days of meetings at the Munich academy. Out of the visit, Stellenbosch University's conservatoire and HMTM Munich signed a Memorandum of Understanding — turning a tour into a standing relationship between the two schools. Zenker has since performed with Ramon in South Africa, at the Endler Hall in Stellenbosch, and returns for a trio programme in 2026.
If your department is weighing something similar, that is the shape of it — and a conversation worth having.
Why students listen
- University post
- Heads the jazz division, Stellenbosch University Music Department
- Teaching since
- Recruited to the Music Certificate Programme by Felicia Lesch; eight years part-time before becoming a full lecturer
- Subject expertise
- Goema rhythm and Cape Jazz history — its Cape Malay, Khoi and District Six roots
- Youth work
- Jazz ensemble workshops for youth bands across the Western Cape
- National role
- Selection panel, National Youth Jazz Festival — National Youth Band, 2024
- International
- Memorandum of Understanding, Stellenbosch conservatoire and HMTM Munich (2023)