(Pic: Aachen Cathedral Choir)The annual Cardinal’s Concert takes place on October 17 in the beautiful Emmanuel Cathedral in the heart of Durban’s CBD. The world-acclaimed Aachen Cathedral Choir from Germany will perform with local musicians in an exciting multi-cultural choral experience.
The Aachen Cathedral Choir (Der Aachener Domchor) can look back on more than 1200 years of history being the oldest boys’ choir in Germany and one of the oldest in the world. Its roots go back on the "Schola Palatina" founded by Alcuin of York, a scholar in the court of Charles the Great (Charlemagne). Since that time, the choir has been making music down the centuries in the famous Palace Chapel of Charles the Great.
Annually, Aachen’s Cathedral Choir performs about 70 services and concerts in the Cathedral, as well as singing as a guest choir in many other churches in Germany and abroad. Concert tours have taken the choir to Russia, America, Israel, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, South Korea and the Balkans and now, for the first time, to South Africa.
Guests of honour at the event include Cardinal Wilfrid Napier OFM and Mahmoud Youssef-Baker, representing the Iqraa Trust. Funds raised will go towards the Denis Hurley Centre - a project of Emmanuel Cathedral. The vision is for it to be a beautiful, safe, environmentally-sensitive multi-purpose building in the city’s bustling CBD, situated between the cathedral and its neighbour the Juma Musjid Mosque. The Centre will provide a 24/7 outreach to refugees and homeless people as well as those living with HIV/AIDS and others in distress; education and skills training for people of all ages, as well as venues for social events, meetings, workshops and conferences in one of the most challenging neighbourhoods of the city; a resource centre including a library, bookshop, museum and exhibition space housing collections associated with the life of Archbishop Hurley, and a coffee shop and catering facilities for a feeding scheme and for meetings and events.
The concert commences at 14h30 on October 17 with the Emmanuel Cathedral choir sharing the stage with the Aachen Cathedral choir. Tickets – in the form of programmes for the event - can be obtained from the Cathedral office (Mon–Fri 08h30 to 16h30, closed between 13h00 and 14h00) for a minimum donation of R20, or purchased at the door before the concert. After the concert, refreshments will be on sale in the Cathedral piazza, with a live Zulu marimba and Zimbabwean drumming combo band.
More information from Emmanuel Cathedral on 031 306 35 95.