Wits Choir Conductor: Dalene Hoogenhout
- Wits University
Wits Choir conductor, Dalene Hoogenhout has passionately trained and conducted the University Choir since 1994.
Dalene Hoogenhout is the Trainer and Conductor of Wits Choir — the official choir of the University of the Witwatersrand. She has been a conductor for 21 years now since being appointed to reconstitute the Choir as an independent and representative ensemble of high musical standard at the University in 1994.
Under her direction, the Choir has become one of the leading choirs in South Africa, specialising in music of the African continent and particularly South Africa. She and the Choir bring the music of this continent to many audiences and other choirs both locally and internationally on the numerous tours and outreach projects that the Choir undertakes. 
Hoogenhout studied music at Wits, where she received her Bachelor of Music degree, specialising in Education.
After teaching at various schools and colleges, she pursued her studies further and completed her Honours degree in Education cum laude at the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg).
At the age of 18, she conducted her first choir and has since worked with many choirs over the years; among them the Kingsmead Girls’ Choir, the Raucall Choir, The Duke of Cornwall Singers and the Boys’ College Choir of St Stithians College, the Standard Bank Gallery Singers and the Johannesburg Chamber Choir.
She is often invited to adjudicate at choir festivals and competitions and is on the panel of adjudicators of the National Eisteddfod Academy. She presents workshops and master classes both locally and abroad and has been invited as guest conductor to conduct various choirs.
In order to gain more knowledge and keep up with world trends in the field of choral music, Hoogenhout attends numerous courses on choral conducting, both nationally and internationally.
She lectures at Wits School of Arts/Division of Music on a sessional basis. She presently also trains the Parktown Girls’ Choir and the Bishop Bavin College Choir.