Durban - An acclaimed American orchestra will embark on a five-city tour of South Africa in August 2018, the first visit to South Africa by a professional US orchestra.
The Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Osmo Vänskä, will perform as a highlight of the tour piece commissioned as a tribute to former president Nelson Mandela. Composed by Bongani Ndodana-Breen and titled Harmonia Ubuntu, it feature soprano Goitsemang Oniccah Lehobye.
The piece will be performed at concerts in Minnesota in July, after which Vänskä and the orchestra will perform in Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg, as well as at the historic Regina Mundi Church in Soweto.
Minnesota Orchestra CEO Kevin Smith said, “We recently became the first American orchestra to tour Cuba following a 2014 thaw in diplomatic relations. The experience was so uplifting and enlightening for us that we decided to forge similar cultural exchanges with other countries. Our Music Director Osmo Vänskä had performed with the South African National Youth Orchestra in Cape Town and Soweto in 2014, and that moving experience persuaded us to tour South Africa next.”
Vänskä said “Music plays a central role in South African culture today, both choral music and a growing orchestral tradition, and we are excited to be part of this movement.”
In 2014, the orchestra won the Best Orchestral Performance Grammy Award. The Minnesota Chorale will join the tour.
The tour aims to showcase music from South African, American and European musical traditions, and will draw together South African and American performers and will offer musical exchanges with student groups and large-scale performances in colleges, city halls and churches.
The musical tribute to Mandela forms part of nearly 50 projects planned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to commemorate the Mandela legacy. Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation Sello Hatang said, “Madiba’s centenary is about helping build a values-based society. Music has over the years played a key role in helping deliver democracy in South Africa. We hope that this initiative will play a role in highlighting the plight of the poor and the marginalized, and thereby build a more equal society.”
Performances are as follows:
- Cape Town
: August 10 at 8pm in the City Hall
- Durban:
August 12 at 5pm in the City Hall
- Pretoria:
August 16 at 7.30pm at the Aula Theatre, University of Pretoria
- Soweto:
August 17 at 7pm at the Regina Mundi Church
- Johannesburg:
August 18 at 3pm in the City Hall
Ticket range from R100 to R600 through Computicket at www.computicket.com/music
Playing Side-by-Side with Young Musicians
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. Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra will engage in two side-by-side rehearsals with the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the South African National Youth Orchestra in Pretoria. The orchestra will participate in a variety of additional education projects with the Cape Music Institute in Athlone and with young musicians in Umlazi.