Youth Wind Band heads to Carnegie Hall

The KwaZulu-Natal Youth Wind Band at its last performance at the Playhouse yesterday before jetting off to New York for the Symphonic Wind Band Festival in Carnegie Hall.Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng

The KwaZulu-Natal Youth Wind Band at its last performance at the Playhouse yesterday before jetting off to New York for the Symphonic Wind Band Festival in Carnegie Hall.Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng

Published Feb 27, 2017

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Durban - The 53 members of the KwaZulu-Natal Youth Wind Band (KZNYWB) performed their last concert on Sunday before heading off to New York next month.

The youth band, made up of musicians aged between 14 and 26, and which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, will leave on March 10 to compete in the Symphonic Wind Band Festival at the world-famous Carnegie Hall.

The band will also become the first South African ensemble to give a world premiere of an American composer’s work, at Carnegie Hall. The newly commissioned work has been especially written for the band by composer Andrew Smith.

The band includes members of the Durban Music School senior ensemble.

Band member Fisokuhle Nxumalo, 18, of uMlazi, said yesterday that he was grateful for the opportunity to go to New York. He started at the Durban Music School (a partner of the band) in 2014, playing the French horn, when he got a bursary while he was in Grade 10. The following year he joined the KZN Youth Wind Band.

“The KZNYWB has made me realise I have a bright future ahead of me as I am passionate about music,” he said. He is now studying mechanical engineering at the Durban University of Technology.

The band’s trip has been financed by the Department of Arts and Culture, Sport and Recreation and eThekwini Municipality.

Among the audience who enjoyed the band’s send-off concert on Sunday, were Ravi Pillay, the MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, and city councillor Ntando Khuzwayo.

Daily News

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