The former TV presenter, Rita van den Heever, and her film-maker husband, Andre, know what it's like to miss your children when they are living far away from South Africa. Their triplets left home to go and study in the USA. Ten years later, one of them, Elza, is an international soprano. Last year Elza won the Wagner Competition in Seattle. The other, Johann and Jaco, are also in the arts - Johann as photographer and Jaco as sculptor. The youngest sibling, Andre, is a chef. Elza has sung in the Frankfurt Opera, San Francisco Opera, Paris Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera. Elza's road to the US was started off by her first music teacher in Johannesburg, Hantie Prins. Elza became a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
