Palissander, one of South Africa’s premier chamber choirs, is an independent amateur choir of international standing that was formed in 1992. The choir has to date performed to great acclaim in Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Kenya, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Finland and Portugal. The choir’s core values are passion, abundance, joy, respect and acceptance.

The name Palissander is a reference to the fourth volume of poetry by the Afrikaans poet Boerneef, entitled Palissandryne. In the opening poem of this volume Boerneef writes of his recorder of palissander wood (a precious dark brown wood, related to jacaranda wood) that plays “palissandertaal” (palissander language). Later in the volume the poet uses the word “palissandertaal” repeatedly as a synonym for music.

Sarita Hauptfleisch, who still conducts the choir, founded Palissander with the purpose of making music for the soul. This has developed into the choir becoming an ambassador for love and peace to both local and overseas communities. The choir achieves this by engaging the audience not only musically, but also intellectually and emotionally through programmes bound together by central themes. This converts a choir concert into a spiritual experience for all.

The theme approach enables an extremely diverse repertoire to be drawn together into a cohesive whole. Since 2004, the annual themes have addressed topics such as peace, democracy, tolerance, our response to HIV/AIDS and respect for the earth. Palissander’s 2024 theme, "Alice reimagined", is inspired by the Alice in Wonderland fantasy. When one feels that life is inverted, get curious, go down a rabbit hole to wonderland, have adventures, be brave and head out towards uncharted lands.

Palissander has to date released eight CDs. It is based in Pretoria and currently consists of 25 members.