(Ubuntu’s executive
producer, baritone Raphael Vilakazi)
Music-lovers can look forward to the world premiere of a
major new South African composition, to be unveiled on the Playhouse Opera
stage next week. Entitled Ubuntu – The
Opera, the work is the magnum opus of Durban-based musician and composer,
Juan Burgers, who for many years has played a leading role in this country’s
classical music environment.
Funded by the National Lotteries Commission and presented
under the auspices of Esayidi FET College in collaboration with Bravo Africa
Entertainment, Burgers’ creation will be staged as a 21st anniversary salute to
South Africa’s Struggle for Democracy, offering a grand-scale showcase of some
of the country’s finest operatic talent.
Set to a powerfully distinctive score underpinned by the
composer’s melodic inspiration and his unfailingly original ear for richly-conceived
vocal and orchestral writing - making the work accessible to first-time
listeners - Ubuntu is written in two
acts with a Prologue. Burgers’ libretto is constructed around cornerstone
events which historically delineate the years of struggle against apartheid.
Heading the list of persona included in the work’s cast list
are the roles of Nelson Rolihlaha Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela, whose
marriage as seen in the context of the opera proves to be the catalyst against
which the broader backdrop of the struggle is depicted. They share the stage
with other great struggle icons such as Nkosi Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu and
Govan Mbeki, among others.
Says Burgers, who has spent most of his career furthering
the phenomenal Black vocal talent in South Africa, long before it became vogue
to do so: “I set out to tell this story of terrible injustice endured by
millions of South Africans, through the medium of opera, the noblest of all art
forms, in the knowledge it would offer full scope for the stirring cultural
background of our country, while allowing me to recreate a birds-eye, or
Cosmic, view of these historic happenings.
“The opera is one of the few in the history of its
repertoire that has larger female chorus than male chorus,” he continues. “The
women of South Africa had a great deal to offer for the struggle, as they
showed in their defiance of the pass laws in 1956. In this regard, one of the
most important figures who appears onstage in my work is Winnie Mandela, who
epitomised untold courage and endurance during the bleak years of isolation she
was subjected to.
“The other key principal female character in the cast is
Gaia, goddess Mother Earth. She is the first character to appear onstage. The
title role character, Ubuntu, is sung by a tenor who remains onstage throughout
the duration of the show. This character embraces the ancient Vedic concept of
Purusha, the innermost essence of being - proclaiming that all which exists in
the Universe is interconnected. This concept, translated in African terms, is
equated with that of ‘One-ness’ epitomised by the term ‘Ubuntu’, which derives
from the notion, ‘I am because you are’ ” adds Burgers.
Burgers began writing Ubuntu
in 2007, and the core of his composition occurred between September and
December 2008. Funding initiatives began in earnest in 2011, and spearheaded by
the project’s executive producer, Raphael Vilakazi, finally came through in May
this year.
Steeped in opera all his life, Burgers’ dual musical
training was also as a concert pianist, both at Pretoria University and
subsequently at the University of Cape Town. A formative influence was his
piano teacher during his teens, the renowned Durban pedagogue, Ethel Kerkin,
who encouraged her pupils in approaching the music she set before them to ‘get
into the mind of the composer’.
Burgers says a major breakthrough in unlocking his creative
process happened in 2003 in Cape Town, while preparing singers for a production
of one of the greatest works of the 19th century repertoire – Hector Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust. This, along with
the opportunity throughout his career to build an extraordinary repertoire of
other giant operatic and choral works (Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Handel’s Messiah,
Wagner’s Lohengrin, Puccini’s Turandot, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Walton’s Belshazzar’s
Feast, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and many others), gave him the capacity
of bringing to the stage these hugely demanding pieces, while in the process
attaining the trade-mark level of performance excellence for which he is known.
The action of Ubuntu –
The Opera unfolds against key events in the life of Nelson Mandela, from
his birth in a rural Transkei homeland, to scenarios such as the notorious
Rivonia Trial, Winnie’s years of isolation, Mandela’s incarceration on Robben
Island, culminating with his eventual release from prison.
Staged under the artistic directorship of Burgers himself, Ubuntu – The Opera will be directed,
designed and choreographed by the gifted Netherlands-based, South African-born
dancer, David Krugel (Spartacus of Africa).
Principal casting includes the rising young soprano Charlotte Mhlongo as Gaia,
with Thamsanqa Mqaba and Simphiwe Mkhatshwa alternating in the pivotal tenor
role of Ubuntu (who remains onstage throughout the opera). Baritones Raphael
Vilakazi and Njabulo Mthimkhulu will share the role of Nelson Mandela.
Sopranos Nomsa Mpofu and Khumbuzile Dlamini will alternate
as Winnie Mandela; baritones Musa Ndadane and Tamsanqa Khaba will share the
role of Albert Luthuli, Richard Salmon is slated to play Judge Quartus de Wet;
Riaan Hunter appears as Colonel Swanepoel, Raimondo van Staden as Braam
Fischer, and tenor Cobus Venter will sing the role of the public prosecutor,
Percy Yutar.
The large handpicked body of choristers will bring gravitas
to the vitally important role played by the Chorus in this ground-breaking
work, which will see conductor Lykele Temmingh at the helm of the KwaZulu-Natal
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ubuntu – The Opera
runs for five performances from November 17 to 22.Tickets R120, R180 and R250 (R90
for students and pensioners). Booking through Computicket outlets at Shoprite
Checkers stores, telephonically on 0861 915 8000, via the Playhouse box office
on 031 369 9540 (office hours), or online at www.computicket.com
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