(South African composer,
Bongani Ndodana-Breen. Pic by Anna Morris))
South African music lovers will have the
rare opportunity of hearing a leading symphony orchestra of the United States
performing live in concert in various venues around South Africa, when the
Grammy Award winning Minnesota Orchestra embarks on a whistle stop national
tour between August 10 and 18, 2018.
Performing under the baton of its Music
Director, the Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota’s tour marks the
first-ever visit to South Africa by a professional US orchestra. Undertaken in
partnership with Classical Movements, one of the world’s leading specialist
cultural organisational bodies, the tour takes place in honour of the centenary
of Nelson Mandela.
An interview with Classical Movement’s
South African-born, United States-based Senior Vice President, Johann van Zyl -
during a final preparatory visit in advance of the tour - afforded enlightening
background insights into the immense logistical considerations behind a tour of
this nature. These would be daunting to most professional project managers, but
are par for the course with his powerhouse organisation, which has a proud
history of running global orchestral tours in accordance with its motto, ‘Moving
the music, changing the world’.
The 90-plus body of Minnesota musicians
kick off their tour with a concert in the Cape Town City Hall on August 10 at
20h00. The second leg of their itinerary sees them performing in the Durban
City Hall on August 12 at 17h00. This will be followed by three concerts in
Gauteng: on August 16 at 19h30 in the University of Pretoria’s Aula Theatre; on
August 17 at 19h00 in the Regina Mundi Roman Catholic Church in Soweto; and the
Johannesburg City Hall on August 18 at 15h00.
“Meticulous advance planning has gone into
every aspect of the tour, in order to minimize any possible error along the
way,” explains Van Zyl. “For instance, immediately following our opening
concert in Cape Town, the pressure will be on to transport the instruments of
all 90-something musicians from Cape Town to Durban. This will mean two outsize
Pantechnicon carriers leaving the Mother City as soon as the concert has
finished, and driving through the night in order to reach Durban by Sunday
morning, and set up to rehearse for the evening’s KZN concert.”
Conviction emanates from Van Zyl as he
talks about his company’s work. This is clearly informed by the knowledge that
music is a universal language which connects people the world over. It soon
becomes clear that one of the cornerstones of Classical Movement’s holistic
modus operandi is Cultural diplomacy. Candidly tagged on the company’s
impressive website www.ClassicalMovements.com as ‘Difficult to define, easy to
overlook…essential to do’, this speaks of 25 years of dedication to the cause
of promoting music for the advancement of international communities. Engaging
productively with government bodies and all manner of other role players - from
fund-raisers, to educators, to cultural advisors, to high-level bureaucrats.
These are aspects that unremittingly form part of the organisational challenges
of Musical Movement’s small but formidably effective administrative team,
headed by Van Zyl’s wife, the company’s founder and President, Neeta Helms.
Another aspect of its work ethic when
planning an orchestral tour involves unstinting social responsibility to the
communities with which it engages. In the case of the Minnesota tour, this
typically will take the form of playing side-by-side with young musicians in
each of the centres it will visit. Side-by-side rehearsals are a regular part
of the Minnesota Orchestra’s engagement work with young musicians, offering an
opportunity for students to play next to their professional counterparts,
sharing a music stand and rehearsal experience together.
During the tour, Vänskä and the Minnesota
Orchestra will engage in two side-by-side rehearsals with young musicians, the
first in Cape Town with members of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
In Pretoria, Vänskä and the Orchestra will
partner for an immersive residency with the South African National Youth
Orchestra (SANYO). The residency will include a side-by-side rehearsal, master
classes, shared dinner experience, as well as the opportunity for SANYO
students to attend Orchestra rehearsals and concerts. The Orchestra will also
partner with the University of Pretoria to offer exchanges and master classes
with music students. The Orchestra will participate in a variety of additional
education projects with the Cape Music Institute in Athlone, and it will engage
with the KZN Youth Wind Band, which operates under the aegis of the Durban
Music School, during the KZN leg of the tour.
Core repertoire to be performed during the
Minnesota Orchestra’s South African tour will centre around Beethoven’s Fifth
Symphony in Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria, and the Beethoven Ninth in Soweto
and Johannesburg. The latter magnum opus will be performed in collaboration
with the Minnesota Chorale and the Gauteng Choristers, along with a quartet of
South African soloists, including soprano Goitsemang Oniccah Lehobye, mezzo
Minette du Toit-Pearce, tenor Siyabonga Maqungo and bass-baritone Njabulo
Madlala.
Other works include, among others: Sibelius’s tone poem, En Saga; a piece specially commissioned as a tribute to Mandela by
Classical Movements from South African composer, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, titled Harmonia Ubuntu, featuring soprano
Goitsemang Oniccah Lehobye; and a surprise package of other works with a strong
South African flavour.
The orchestra’s Durban concert takes place
on August 12 at 17h00 in the Durban City Hall. Ticket prices range from R100 to
R600 and bookings can be done through Computicket on 0861 915 8000 or online at
www.computicket.com/music. For more information, visit www.minnesotaorchestra.org/satour
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