Music runs in the blood of 17-year-old saxophonist, Kian Goliath, from Loevenstein in Cape Town.

The 2024 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) is his second bite at the proverbial cherry.

Both his grandfathers played musical instruments. One played organ and piano, as well as conducting the choir for his church. The other one played the trumpet. He says both his parents used to play the piano when they were still in school. “They haven’t touched the piano since,” he chuckles.

Apart from the saxophone, the young musician plays the drums. He plays in a band with friends.

Kian’s brother, Quinn, is also a saxophonist. They will compete against each other in the 2024 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC). This will be another story to follow.

The talented saxophonist started his musical odyssey when he was seven years old. Initially, it was the piano but two years later he started playing the saxophone. His first teacher was Liam Burden of the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre. Currently, he is tutored by the centre’s principal, Dr Arisa Voges.

“The saxophone is my favourite instrument.” He paraphrased English detective, Sherlock Holmes, saying: “The question is which saxophone. I think my favourite is the alto saxophone as I started on the alto.

“My strategy, as in any competition, is to practice my pieces constantly and effectively and on the day of the performance, just have fun, letting everything out on stage,” he smiles proudly.

According to him, it is difficult to balance practising time between school and life but he practices at least an hour per day. Apart from music, He likes playing video games and spending a lot of his time with friends. He also plays squash and chess for his school, Westerford High in the Rondebosch and Newlands suburbs of Cape Town. Kian describes himself as resilient as he always tries to push through, no matter how difficult a situation is.

The upcoming star sees the colour of his music as red. “I always try to put a lot of emotion and feeling in my music, whether it is classical, romantic or jazz,” he muses.

Although he doesn’t have a specific favourite composer. When pushed to decide, he says it would probably be the Polish composer and virtuoso pianist, Frédéric Chopin. “He put a lot of feeling and emotion in his compositions. I feel like I play similarly to his,” brims Kian.

With the motto: Live, Love, Laugh, he aims to study computer sciences at either Stellenbosch University or the University of Cape Town. I want to continue with music on the side, performing at gigs and writing music, even being part of a band one day. Once the side music generates enough revenue, he will switch to music full-time and hopefully change the world through music by conveying various messages through it.