New Music Forum Debut: Embarking on a journey

At 20:00 on the evening of 24 April, in the Music Library of Stellenbosch University I presented the debut performance/discussion of the New Music Forum. This is a forum solely focused on the performance and discussion of New Music as aimed at, and presented predominantly by, undergraduate students. Not only music students are welcome, instead, the forum is open to all at the university. The intention is to create exposure of New Music within the Conserve but also to engage in collaborative projects which will see the inclusion of students from other departments. That these objectives were achieved could be seen in the audience who attended the debut performance. They included students from the Drama, Fine Arts, and Music departments (as far as I could recognise them). Invitations were also extended to students at the philosophy department.

The programme for this concert included Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together and Attica. These works were performed by an ensemble consisting of Sulayman Human (piano), Ernst Van Tonder (e-flat and b-flat clarinets), Arthur Feder (alto saxophone), Le-Nique Brand (tuba), David Bester (violin), and Thuthuka Sibisi (voice). After the performance there was a brief interval and the audience reconvened for a discussion.

What follows is a manifesto for the works that were performed:
There are two points of departure for this project:
One: the project had to overcome the practical concern which is the specificity of instrumentation of New Music scores. I had to choose a piece that was written for players that I knew would be willing and committed to making such a project come to life but that also allowed for choice in terms of timbre that was artistically sought.
Two: the project sought to create commentary on a broader social concern.
I decided that Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together and Attica would be the best works for the job as it addressed both these problems.

These works meet the first point of departure in that they are open-score works. Besides for the need to have the base line sounded and a voice to perform the text, the score only mentions that an ensemble of any size (and instrumentation) can be used. Later in the performance procedure it does, however, require a differentiation between high and low instruments. Nonetheless, the open score format led me and Lise Morrison (co-producer of this project) to decide on the instrumentation as stated because we knew we could not only rely on these players but that three composition students could be incorporated, aiding with the strong improvisation aspect of the work. Furthermore, it created an unconventional instrumentation which was aesthetically very attractive.

In addressing the second point of departure, we should look more closely at the works themselves. The first part of the work sees the reading of a letter that was written by Samuel Melville during his detention in Attica prison. The American prison system, quite rightly, limited his freedom. But with freedom comes the individual’s capacity unto himself. When freedom is taken away, so is this capacity. This might not seem like such a bad thing but it does leave the individual reliant on the institution’s decision as to his fate. This becomes extremely dangerous when a question of survival is at stake.

Attica prison took away Melville’s capacity unto himself. They created a cage in which he had very limited means to defend himself during a prison riot that he instigated. Subsequently, he and 28 other prisoners were shot dead by New York State police, New York National Guard and former correctional officers. The phenomenon of misuse of power is not only reserved for the USA and this is where the project finds contextualisation in South Africa. As we speak there is a commission of enquiry running to examine the happenings of what has been referred to as the worst single case of lethal force used by South African security forces since the Sharpville massacre(1) . This incident is, of course, the Marikana mine workers tragedy. In a similar sense the mine workers found themselves at the mercy of an institution which took away their capabilities to defend themselves.

On 16 August 2012 34 people were killed and 78 wounded when the South African Police Service opened fire on the protesters. The institution here does not only include the SAPS. The National Union of Mineworkers (or NUM) also had a role to play. Corrupt leadership opened fire on its own members when they called for a strike. This forced the miners belonging to this union to take wildcat strike action. However, the combination of the abandonment by the NUM and the calling in of the cavalry led to the subsequent loss of life.

One can easily get lost in the blame game but what we can see by this incident is that the miners who gave up their capacity of freedom and their power unto themselves to the institutions of the NUM and the SAPS fell victim to violence.
This is, however, not an isolated incident in South Africa. Since 2010 the SAPS has incurred R334-million in legal fees due to civil claims with 5090 incidents between 2011 and 2012(2) alone. These are cases of police brutality, wrongful arrests and unlawful detention, to name but a few. It should be said that this is an institution we do not have a choice in joining other than having the choice to leave the country or to change the system.

It is upon this notion of institutional dangers that this works delivers commentary. We are subject to it but so few of us are aware of the dangers that come with it.

The question of change lies in the second part of the work. The utterance “Attica is in front of me” was made by inmate Richard Clark to a reporter when he was released. The statement was provoked by the question “how does it feel to leave Attica behind you?” Does what happened ever lie behind us when it has happened or will it always be in front of us, an object that we can confront, chase and catch, grappling with it for the change that is required(3)?

So what we have is then an artistic production that comments on the dangers of the institution. This is achieved by a re-contextualisation of commentary that is delivered on institutions in the USA into a South African setting that is faced with similar problems. The practical problem of performance of New Music has been addressed by the use of an open- score work in this performance but, of course, the question of artistic commentary on societal change still remains open.

It is hard to judge exactly how long the discussion that ensued from the reading of this manifesto lasted, but if I were to guess I would say between 20 and 30 minutes. Important points were raised including: the notion of actually having such an interpretation read after the performance and whether it should not happen before the concert. Further comments related to the content of the work and its powerful representation of institutional dangers. I am glad to report that the debut was a success, purely taken on the fact that there was a bigger audience than there were chairs (and wine glasses, a problem that will have to be addressed urgently) and by the fact that the library-cum-concertising space was still full for the discussion after the interval.

Of course such a platform, the work presented and the future of such an endeavour still requires critical engagement and this is where I urge you as reader of this post to respond, regardless of whether you were there on the evening or not.

-William Fourie, 3rd year BMus Stellenbosch University

End notes:

1. Richard Stupart (16 August 2012). The Night Before Lomnin’s Explanations. African Scène [Online] http://www.africanscene.co.za/2012/08/the-night-before-lonmins-explanation/. Retrieved 20 April 2013.

2. This statistic was taken from Sarah Evan’s recent article on the Mail & Guardian website [found at: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-14-police-brutality-study-cops-cases-sued]: Police brutality: No silver bullet for costly concerns (15 April 2013).

3. This was attempted in the performance by manically warping the voice part at first and gradually changing it to sung voice.

Archery and cello playing – two sides of the same coin?

Colloquium presented at the Department of Music
Stellenbosch University
22 October 2012

The reason why I took up archery may need some explanation and in order to do this I have to go back in my history a bit.

As a young under graduate student I was often frustrated as tendonitis seemed to hound me through out my studies and cause me to seriously question my career choice. However, as is often the case in life, the choice of whether to continue or not, was made for me when I was awarded a UNISA Licentiate Overseas Scholarship after my final BMus year which caused me to land at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg for the next 3 years studying cello performance.

It is now just about 35 years ago that my cello teacher in Salzburg gave me a little book to read which she thought could be helpful to me (all in German!). It was called “Zen and the art of Archery”, written by a German Philosopher by the name of Eugen Herrigel in 1953. It is a booklet about his experiences whilst studying Archery with a Zen Master in Japan for 6 years. It describes his struggles, both to understand the underlying Zen philosophy and those encountered within him during this process. This story and the description of his teacher’s teaching absolutely fascinated me as there were such clear similarities to that which I was confronted with in my cello studies, although of course from a completely different perspective and in a completely different discipline. The road that I was being led towards and coached about in an attempt to help me understand the underlying cause of my tendonitis, was an inner journey that I saw mirrored in Herrigel’s descriptions of his. It struck a sympathetic chord in me and I vowed: One day I am going to study archery! However, as is also often the case with good intentions, it took me a while to realize this one – all of 30 + years, but I can honestly say that I never really forgot about it – it was always lurking at the back of my mind.

What I learnt in Salzburg was to a great extent to completely change my approach to music and therefore also to cello playing. I came from a typical background where, for the outside world at least, external achievement was very important and I, unconsciously, also accepted that as proof of quality and of self worth. I felt good if I could say how many hours of practice I had put in and what level of perfection I thought I had achieved. It felt even better when I won something or achieved good marks in an exam. It was therefore quite a new experience for me when my teacher hardly commented on obvious imperfections in my playing and would be more interested in whether or not I felt comfortable when playing, or asked of me to rather think about what movements expressed the music best that trying to play a piece. She asked me to simulate playing – to “play” without sound, making only the movements, allowing my body to experience the music and allowing it to find the most natural way to move whilst playing. At first I was completely stressed because the first thing that happened was that the level of perfection in my playing took a real nose dive! I felt that I was loosing control – which of course I did – but that was exactly the point. I needed to give up trying to control everything. How often did I not hear the words: “do not play – let ”it” play! Or: “only play with honest energy – use emotional energy and not will power!” At first it sounded like Chinese to me!

I remember one very bad day when I stood in the middle of a foot bridge crossing the Salzach River which runs through the middle of Salzburg, after having had an hour long lesson on the first two notes of the Schumann cello concerto. I was totally exasperated with myself and my cello and thought “if I throw my cello in this river it will end up in the Black Sea and I need never ever play again!” Luckily I did not do it and I still play on the same instrument!

No wonder that I was struck by this sentence on the very first page of this little book that came into my hands – part of the preface written by a certain Mr. Suzuki. (nót the famous violin teacher!) I quote: “If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an ‘artless art’ growing of the Unconscious.” I was getting really excited about all of this!  And I read further “this state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of self, the artist becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art.”  If stuff like this was written in a published book, then maybe my cello teacher is not completely mad. Maybe there is something to it!

Herrigel describes in his book how he came to Japan to teach philosophy at a university. Studying archery with a Zen Master was one of the things on his “bucket list” and he had been looking forward to pursuing this dream of his in Japan. He was thus very disappointed when at first he had great difficulty in convincing a Zen Master to teach him, a Westerner, archery. He was eventually only accepted as a student when a Japanese friend, who was also studying archery with the same teacher he had unsuccessfully approached, intervened on his behalf. Now follows his description of the 6 years of struggle and despondency and eventual growth.

In the first year he was only allowed to draw the bow string – not shoot. He describes how the teacher demonstrated this action, seemingly without any effort and then saying “Now you do it! Remember, archery is not meant to strengthen the muscles. When drawing the string, you should not exert the full strength of your body, but must learn to let only your two hands do the work, while your arm and shoulder muscles remain relaxed, as though they look on impassively.” Herrigle’s subsequent efforts, trying to achieve this, went on for a year – one during which he was eventually lead to discover the secret of breathing. As the Master then instructs: “through this breathing you will not only discover the source of all spiritual strength, but it will also cause this source to flow more abundantly and pour more easily through your limbs, the more relaxed you are.”

Reading about this again triggered a new approach in cello playing for me. No one had ever asked me before to observe my own breathing whilst playing, but my cello teacher did that often. She made me aware of it that I actually often held my breath when a difficult passage came up. I started to question myself. How do I breathe? Do I breathe at all!!? Where in my body do I breathe? How does my breathing affect my sound and phrasing? The liberation that this insight brought about was a highlight in my search for that hidden something that changed notes into magic.

In the second year of his studies, Herrigle was eventually allowed to work on the release of the bow string. His teacher said:” All that you have learnt hitherto was only a preparation for releasing the shot” When watching the Master, the release looked so simple and undemanding, that it might have been child’s play. This effortless smooth release of utmost tension however, continued to elude Herrigle. He was close to despair and said as much when the Master replied: ”The right art is purposeless and aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a ‘much too willful will’. You think that what you do not actually will yourself to do, does not happen.”

Then I had to remember my cello lessons again and the ever recurring directive; “don’t do it, let it happen!” Possibly the most difficult thing to learn is to give up control – even an assumed one!

I was always amazed by the fact that during my cello studies, every now and then, I seemed to “bump into” new insights on this subject. Such was the fact when I attended a cello master class by the renowned cellist of the previous century, Zara Nelsova, an American of Russian decent. One of the students was having great difficulty with hitting the notes spot on in the very difficult Walton cello concerto. She proceeded to explain that, given the huge distances one often has to move on the cello, you can only be sure to hit a remote note once you understand that each note is actually a specific state of mind and body and not primarily a geographical location on the fingerboard. Now that was a new thought to chew on! She explained further that practicing simply aiming for a remote “spot” will never truly solve the problem, as it will never contain the true meaning of the interval – even if you hit the note by accident after lots of practice, it will still be meaningless…

In the meantime I still followed Herrigle and his struggles. He is now already in his third year of study and still the teaching is about the technique only – no mention at all about actually shooting at something. In Zen terms: “Steep is the way to mastery. Often nothing keeps the pupil on the move but his faith in his teacher…..” That I can attest to! At times I felt I could identify with him when he confessed in his book: “I will not deny that I spent many gloomy hours wondering whether I could justify this waste of time, which seemed to bear no conceivable relationship to anything I had learnt and experienced so far.”

My cello studies in Salzburg came to a favorable conclusion after 3 years, and I landed up next in Geneva, Switzerland at the Conservatoire de Genéve for the next two years. My new French professor was known as a “sound Guru”. I quote him often to my own students as saying to me “You must become ze sound!” and further, “It is not ze notes that are important but, that which happens between them!”  By now I was luckily already fairly schooled in understanding what that might mean and it excited me to be working along the same lines still more.

It seemed to me that Mr. Herrigle had a more difficult time than I did though. At least I was allowed to play music through all this soul searching going on!

In his 5th year of study only was he eventually allowed to shoot at a target! The first obstacle for him to overcome was to get enough energy in his shots so that they would fly far enough. The Master explained: “It does not depend on the strength the bow, but on your presence of mind. In order to unleash this full force of awareness, you must perform the movements differently: rather as a good dancer dances. If you do this, your movements will spring from the centre, from the seat of right breathing. Instead of reeling off the ceremony (the technique of shooting) like something learnt by heart, it will then be as if you were creating it under the inspiration of the moment, so that the dance and the dancer are one and the same.”

Herrigle was still confronted with the typical Western worry about external success. “You worry unnecessarily” the Master comforted him. “Put the thought of hitting the target right out of your mind! You can be a Master even if every shot does not hit.”

I am happy to report that after 6 years of study Herrigle was finally pronounced to be a Zen Master of Archery. In his book he describes what it felt like: Bow, arrow, goal and ego. All melt into one another so that I can no longer separate them. And even the need to separate them has gone. For as soon as I take the bow and shoot, everything becomes so clear and straightforward and so ridiculously simple…”

Back in South Africa I came into contact with the Alexander Technique and I have since been a keen enthusiast of this discipline. It comes from quite another angle, but concepts like: “beware of ‘end gaining’ and finding the ‘means whereby’”, struck familiar chords with me. A new and deeper understanding of how the human body can move within this state of “greatest advantage”, as the AT calls it, has been instrumental in shaping my ideas about teaching and playing the cello over many years. My French professor also often talked about playing “from the inside out” and not from the “outside in.” I found that working with an Alexander Technique teacher gave me new insight into this directive which, at the time I understood, but since it has taken on many more dimensions.

I think that this idea was further expounded for me through the words of the great cellist and teacher, William Pleeth, (he was the main teacher of Jaqueline du Prez) in his book: “Cello”.

“How can a physical action have a separate existence from the emotion which brought it into being and which it is to reflect?”

Later in the same chapter (Technique in Perspective) he says:

“The act of playing – physically and spiritually – must be one of relative balance and completeness in our whole being, for each aspect is carrying the other aspect and all must travel together along the same wavelength. Everything causes everything, everything gives birth to everything, everything feeds everything – the ‘oneness’ of you, your instrument and the music should be so perfect that all three marry into one entity in the end: one seamless whole in which one cannot see where the one part leaves off and the other begins.

Whatever you are conveying musically has to have this perfect unity, because it is only when one has this kind of completeness that one can become a complete creative being.”

Another aspect of the AT that I found fascinating was the obvious link between emotions and the physical body. We all know that if you say to someone: “Oh, I feel so depressed today” that we tend to give the words a physical reinforcement. I suppose the expression; “to read someone’s body language” comes from exactly that. We tend to physically “become” what we feel, but unfortunately mostly in the negative sense like the effect nervousness can have on one.

I experienced first hand how the exact opposite could also happen. I used to drive through from Stellenbosch to Mowbray for my AT lesson in between teaching classes. Often I would be slightly late and a bit stressed by the time I arrived there. Invariably I would notice that, on leaving my lesson (having been put physically “in order”), my senses would be so much more acute. I would suddenly smell the flowers, see the green leaves and hear the birds. All over I would feel better and more positive. I became more and more aware through teaching and playing how an ability to have a free, balanced and therefore relaxed body, allows the player (artist) to became the perfect vessel, bringing about exactly what Pleeth talks about and calls “oneness”, which enables him/her to convey true musical expression.

And so Cello playing, Alexander Technique and Zen seemed to me to merge more and more. Maybe it is not so strange then that, about three years ago I was eventually prompted to do something about the promise I made to myself as a student, way back in Salzburg – to finally take up archery.

In this area the traditional art of Japanese Zen Archery is not taught, as far as I could find out, so I had to settle for modern archery but since there is also a book written about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I suppose one could also practice Zen and the art of modern archery!

And so the circle was completed. When I practice archery I find that I draw a lot on my years of experience, playing and teaching the cello, and when I play the cello, I often have completely new insights that I have, sometimes totally unconsciously, gained through my efforts regarding archery. In a way “oneness” can be practiced where ever you go and in what ever you do and that is a lifelong work.

(Posted on behalf of Dalena Roux, cello lecturer at Stellenbosch University)

Call for Young and Emerging Composers

A small surprise

Piano recital, Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch Conservatorium, 4 September 2012-

The audience attending Michael Blake’s tribute concert to John Cage for his 100^th birthday, was treated to a special surprise. The programme noted that Blake would be performing two of his works composed for Shirley Hoffman in the early 1980s, Gang o’ Notes and hand full of keys, but instead there was a last minute change of plans.

This change took the form of a première of a work that Blake had been working on, with the intention to perform it in a Cage concert. Thus there could be no more fitting an occasion than a birth centenary concert. The audience was treated not only to the particularly rare (in South Africa) occurrence of a concert of prepared piano works, but also to a celebration of the birth of a work by one of our country’s foremost composers.

The work was 100 (which turned out to be 101) voicings of the so-called “CAGE” chord. This chord was presented to the audience in all its inversions and a great variety of placements within the registral scope of the piano. Repeating one chord 101 times in such a compelling way is no mean feat. This said, it should be noted that minimalist and experimental aesthetics are often aligned with Blake’s compositional style and thus one sonority such as C-A-G-E would seem appropriate and ample material for this composer to work with.

The various voicings were presented as a succession of chords at a slow tempo, deviating from the set rhythm only to include (very sparsely) passing notes and appoggiaturas. There seemed to be an overarching structure, even though this is hard to rationalise, and microstructures dictated by subtly shifting tension in the harmonic playground.

What does a member of the audience make of this? Firstly, the programme that preceded the piece should, I think, be taken into account. Before the première we were treated to a performance of Henry Cowell’s Aeolian Harp and The Banshee. These pieces were then followed by Cage’s A Valentine out of Season and Music for Marcel Duchamp.

With both these works for prepared piano one might not imagine setting a scene of an entranced wash of dreamlike colours. The shift, however, was routed with the screening of the Duchamp sequence in Hans Richter’s Dreams that Money Can Buy for which Music for Marcel Duchamp was originally written. This would-be hypnotic film placed against the percussive sounds of the prepared piano, I felt, prepared me in some sense for the waves of harmonic tension and release of the 100 voicings.

The phrase “less is more” might seem a cliché here but I think it holds great importance to understanding the work. Is this really more or less “less is more”? When listening to the piece and reflecting on it afterward, it dawned on me that the work and its implications suggested rich meanings. Firstly, the idea that a four-letter surname (and not the first in the history of music) can hold such power in altering how we think about art so that 100 years after the birth of the person it refers to in North America we celebrate it (and him) at the tip of Africa, seems oddly significant.

This influence is then brought forth in Blake’s music in the most transparent manner, which lends the surname voice long after its owner had passed on.

I was also deeply conscious of the fact that the C-A-G-E chord manifested in Blake’s work as chordal successions. This reminded me of the endless chord progressions we as students write to refine our skills in voice leading and other theoretical and compositional exercises.

This idea led me to realise the fact that we can see Cage as a teacher and that we (in some respects) will always be able to learn from him. This is a part of his influence that I find extremely important as it represents one relatively logical conclusion as to why one would be remembered and celebrated 100 years after one’s birth.

And if Cage is the teacher here, then Blake was not just regurgitating his artistic voice but instead emulating a fine homage.  I say “emulating” as the influence of Cage’s aesthetic is prevalent in the work but as we can learn from history these influences can aid in the creation of the next generation’s masters. “Emulation” in this case also denotes the surpassing of Cage’s work in its confidence and ease.

This is, however, the “more”. The “less” can then be seen in the extreme economy of carrying out such an idea. Cage is voiced one hundred (and one) times. We cannot escape the thoughts that are carried with each utterance. The work allows for ample time to process and reorientate one’s thoughts. You are led along a subjective journey into your own mind and left to dwell while being at ease with what is going on around you. This is due to the minimal means that needs no great instrumental forces to produce affect. Blake’s 100 voicings delivers a message in its most dapper form by striping all excess couture from the music.

All in all I believe the work does capture the spirit of Cage and is, in fact, a wonderful tribute to one of the great heroes of the twentieth century. Furthermore, I firmly believe that the work is more or less “less is more” with a great deal of philosophical content delivered to the audience in a beautifully economic manner. Finally, I would proclaim that the concert, which was then concluded with a wonderful performance of Cage’s The Perilous Night followed by 4’33”,was a great success despite the slightly unruly audience and a stage assistant who was not familiar enough with the piano preparations. The concert also served to whet my own appetite for Blake’s recent CD release featuring a selection of his chamber music.

- William Fourie  

Michael Blake CD release

John Cage 100th Birthday Concert: Recital by Michael Blake

 

STEFANS GROVé 90 JAAR : STEFANS GROVé 90 YEARS

STEFANS GROVé 90 JAAR
‘n Fees & Simposium
10 – 12 Augustus 2012
Odeion Skool vir Musiek

Die internasionaal bekende Suid-Afrikaanse komponis, Stefans Grové, vier vanjaar sy 90ste verjaardag. Ter herdenking van sy lang en uitnemende loopbaan bied die Odeion Skool vir Musiek (Universiteit van die Vrystaat) in samewerking met die Dokumentasiesentrum vir Musiek (DOMUS) by die Universiteit van Stellenbosch met trots ’n naweeklange fees in Bloemfontein van 10 tot 12 Augustus aan. Die feesviering sal konserte van sy musiek, ’n simposium van musikologiese refleksie en kommentare oor sy werk deur die komponis self behels.

Die program begin op Vrydag 10 Augustus met ’n praatjie deur prof. Grové (18:00) om die aand se konsert in te lui.  Die konsert om 19:30 sal Grové se “Tweespalt” en “Sanguinies” uit Piano Pieces (1975), Nonyana, the ceremonial dancer (1994), Afrika Beelde (1999) en Dance Song for the Nyau Dance (2003) insluit.  Ben Schoeman is die solis met dié klavierwerke.  Ná pouse sal die Vyf Liedere op tekste van Ingrid Jonker, Pan en die Nagtegaal en Sielvoël uitgevoer word.  Die kunstenaars is Helen Vosloo (fluit), Anmari van der Westhuizen (tjello), Lesley-Ann Mathews (klavier) en Matildie Thom Wium (mezzo-sopraan).

Op Saterdag 11 Augustus sal die Dokumentasiesentrum vir Musiek ? simposium (9:00 – 13:00) oor Grové se musiek aanbied, insluitende referate deur bekende musikoloë soos proff. Gregory Barz (via video), Hannes Taljaard en Izak Grové, asook ? lesingdemonstrasie deur Ben Schoeman.  Met die konsert (19:30) sal Grové se Afrika Hymnus II, die première van My Jaargetye (? opdragwerk vir Schoeman deur die Odeion Skool vir Musiek), Gesprekke vir orrel en klavier asook die wêreldpremière van sy nuutgekomponeerde Klavierkwintet  – “A Venda Legend” insluit.   Tydens hierdie konsert sal die FAK ‘n toekenning vir besondere kultuurprestasie asook die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns ‘n oorkonde aan Stefans Grové maak.  Die konsert sal voorafgegaan word deur ’n onderhoud wat Ben Schoeman met Grové sal voer oor die onderwerp van Grové se klaviermusiek (18:00).

Die laaste konsert van die fees sal op Sondag 12 Augustus plaasvind en sluit die ensemble-werk Musa vir fluit (Helen Vosloo), altviool (Jeanne-Louise Moolman), tjello (Anmari van der Westhuizen), klavier (Piet Moolman) en verteller (Marli van der Bijl) in. Ander werke op Sondagmiddag se program is Grové se Sonate vir altviool en klavier en die Elegie vir Strykorkes wat deur die OSM Camerata uitgevoer sal word.

Die volgende OSM vennote word by voorbaat bedank vir hulle bydrae om hierdie besonderse geleenthede te laat realiseer: DOMUS, die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, die ATKV & ATKV-Muziq en Xerox (UV Kampus).

TOEGANG: R70 (volwassenes), R50 (pensioenarisse, studente en leerders) Spesiale pakket: R120 vir die drie konserte (dus R40 per konsert!). Kaartjies beskikbaar by Computicket.

Toegang na die seminaar en pre-konsert onderhoude is gratis.

NAVRAE: Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051-401 2504)

STEFANS GROVé 90 YEARS
A Festival & Symposium
10 – 12 August 2012
Odeion School of Music

Internationally acclaimed South African composer, Stefans Grové, celebrates his 90th birthday this year. In honour of his long and distinguished career, the Odeion School of Music (University of the Free State), in collaboration with the Documentation Centre for Music (DOMUS) at the University of Stellenbosch, is proud to present a weekend-long festival in Bloemfontein from 10 to 12 August, which will include concerts of his music, a symposium of musicological reflection, as well as commentaries on his work by the composer himself.

The programme starts off on Friday 10 August with a talk given by Prof Grové (18:00) to introduce the evening’s concert.  The concert at 19:30 will include Grové’s “Tweespalt” and “Sanguinies” from Piano Pieces (1975) Nonyana, the ceremonial dancer (1994), Afrika Beelde (1999) and Dance Song for the Nyau Dance (2003).  Pianist Ben Schoeman is the soloist for this part of the programme.  After the interval the set of Five Ingrid Jonker songs, Pan and the Nightingale and Sielvoël will be performed.  The artists are Helen Vosloo (flute), Anmari van der Westhuizen (cello), Lesley-Ann Mathews (piano) and Matildie Thom Wium (mezzo soprano).

On Saturday 11 August the Documentation Centre for Music will present a symposium (9:00 – 13:00) on Grové’s music, including papers by such distinguished scholars as Gregory Barz (via video), Hannes Taljaard and Izak Grové, and a lecture demonstration by Ben Schoeman. With the concert (19:30) Grové’s Afrika Hymnus II,  the première of My Jaargetye (commissioned by the Odeion School of Music for Schoeman), Conversations for organ and piano as well as the première of Grové’s recently composed Piano Quintet – “A Venda Legend”.  During this concert the FAK will present an award for exceptional cultural achievement to Stefans Grové and the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns will present a citation to the composer.  This concert will be preceded by an interview with Grové conducted by Ben Schoeman on the subject of Grové’s piano music (18:00).

The concluding concert of the festival will take place on Sunday 12 August and will feature the ensemble work Musa, for flute (Helen Vosloo), viola (Jeanne-Louise Moolman), violoncello (Anmari van der Westhuizen), piano (Piet Moolman) and a narrator (Marli van der Bijl). Other works on Sunday afternoon’s programme include Grové’s Sonata for Viola and Piano and the Elegy for String Orchestra which will be performed by the OSM Camerata.

We sincerely thank the following OSM partners who have contributed to make these special events possible: DOMUS, Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, the FAK, ATKV & ATKV-Muziq and Xerox (UFS Campus).

ADMISSION: R70 (adults), R50 (pensioners, students and learners) Special Package: R120 for the three concerts (i.e. R40 per concert!) Tickets available at Computicket

Admission to the seminar and pre-concert talks are free of charge.

ENQUIRIES:  Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)