More about our 2026 recording artists
A new generation legends
​We proudly present: Lizl Simoes, Tamryn Paulse, Mark Pekeur, and Salvador Mouers – a new generation of artists worthy of carrying Crescendo’s musical torch into the next half-century.
Lizl
Simoes
This is how it all began
I remember a little pink plastic microphone I used to play with. According to my mom, I could sing before I could talk. At five, I started piano lessons, and by nine, singing lessons.
I want my music ...
... to include elements from different genres. It doesn’t always have to be serious. Sometimes it’s a love song, sometimes a ballad – almost like a diary of my own life.
Few people know that ...
... I once completely froze up. Not on stage — much worse — during my final-year piano exam at university. It might sound trivial to some, but it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. For the first time, I had to separate my sense of self from what I could do musically.
So far, Crescendo has ...
... taught me to trust the process. As a perfectionist, I struggle to hand over the reins, but with this project, I’m surrounded by people I can truly trust.
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“I write because I feel, live, think, want to know, and because I am alive.”
Mark Pekeur
This is how it all began
Although I sang in the church choir and taught myself to play guitar at ten, I never imagined I’d become a musician. When lockdown prevented me from doing sports as usual, I started considering a career in the arts for the first time. Today, I’m a member of the South African Youth Choir and feel incredibly privileged to be one of Crescendo’s 2026 recording artists.
I want my music ...
... to give words to what other people feel but perhaps can’t express. That’s what music has become for me – a way to give voice to my own emotions. Before that, it was sport – cricket, golf, and table tennis – but the process of creating brings me greater peace and calm.
Few people know that ...
... I was that person at school everyone came to with their problems, even while I had things of my own to work through. Even older people have come to me for comfort, though I certainly didn’t – and still don’t – have all the answers.
So far, Crescendo has ...
... helped me accept myself more fully. I feel at home within the Crescendo family, and I’m no longer the person who tries to hide my own pain behind jokes.
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“I write to try to make sense of everything in my head and to process my emotions.”
Salvador
Mouers
This is how it all began
Some of my earliest memories are of performing in a preschool concert at the age of three. I don’t remember much, but I do remember how happy it made me when people clapped. I also remember singing from the roof of my grandfather’s house for all of Narraville in Windhoek – whether they wanted to hear me or not.
With my music, I want to ...
... use the obstacles I’ve overcome by grace to give people hope.
Few people know...
...what it feels like when a teacher asks in front of the whole class when my parents are going to pay the school fees — while there literally wasn’t money for food. Yes, my grandfather left us his house, but it was like an empty shell, without water or electricity. For my mother, a single parent of five children, school fees were the last thing on her mind. But as a child, that shame settles over you — it becomes part of who you are.
So far, Crescendo...
...has made me realize that the negatives of where I come from do not determine the end point of my journey. Who would ever have thought that the boy who once dropped out of school because he saw no future for himself would one day release his own album with his own songs? Crescendo rekindled my passion for music.
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“I write because I have a message. I have a dream, a passion, a hunger, and a thirst.”
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Tamryn Paulse
This is how it all began
Do you remember those old cassette players where you had to press the tape in? I played those things to pieces. As a teenager, I led our church’s music ministry for the first time. It was also during that time that I tried my hand at writing original music.
Crescendo has so far...
...given me the chance to be Tamryn first and foremost — not just a woman, a mother, or a pastor. Yes, I still feel guilty as a mom for leaving my children alone, but it’s also time to rediscover who I am. Tamryn, just as she is — without masks, simply human.
People don’t know that...
...like so many others, I’ve suffered from depression since I was young. Over the years, with the help of pillars of support like my husband and mother, things have improved, but there are still times — like after my father’s death last year — when I have to fight not to be overwhelmed.
I want my music...
...to be a safe haven for people — an invitation to be still, to listen, and to be moved. I want to give people permission to simply be. Honestly, without sugarcoating anything.
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“Writing is a release for me. I understand myself better when it’s on paper.”