Durban - Fifty-five KZN musicians from all walks of life are off to perform at the ultimate venue: Carnegie Hall in New York.
And the KwaZulu-Natal Youth Wind Band will be the first South African ensemble to give a world premiere of an American composer’s work.
Although the New York kitty is still R700 000 short, Kim Matthews, chairperson of the Durban Music School, a partner of the band and where it is based, is confident that private and corporate sponsors will realise the “wonderful opportunity” that the band will be getting.
It has already secured R1 million from the provincial Department of Arts and Culture, Sport and Recreation, while Matthews is hopeful about getting R500 000 from eThekwini Municipality.
“Just to be on the stage at the Carnegie Hall is amazing. It’s the world’s most glamorous music venue,” Matthews said last night.
The wind band, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, is made up of musicians aged between 14 and 26 and is considered one of the country’s top youth ensembles, having won national and international competitions.
It is Durban Music School’s senior ensemble, with most of its members taking music lessons at the school.
The band will be taking part in the International New York Wind Band Festival and Competition on March 14. It was selected from 36 applicants from around the world and is one of only six in the finals.
“To further add to the prestige of the occasion, the band has been chosen as the one band in the competition to premiere a newly-commissioned work, written specially for the band by American composer Andrew Smith, making (it) the first South African ensemble to give a world premiere at Carnegie Hall,” Matthews said.
With a vibrant development programme, the band gives orphaned and vulnerable children the chance to be part of a first-class orchestra.
“This trip offers a wonderful opportunity to showcase to the world how far South Africa has come in developing the skills of the previously disadvantaged,” Matthews said.
Conductor Russell Scott said: “The aspect of the trip we are probably most looking forward to is the rehearsal exchanges (with one group playing under another group’s conductor). This will see the band partner with bands from across the US, playing and sharing each other’s music, allowing us to spread the joy and warmth of South African culture - and showing that South African ensembles can compete with some of the best in the world.”
The band will be playing a “top-tier wind orchestra repertoire”, including the difficult Candide by Leonard Bernstein.
“This is exactly the kind of unified, multiracial group the world needs to be seeing from South Africa right now,” he added.
* To help fund the project, call Matthews at 0836269739 or e-mail [email protected]