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Celebrating classical and choral traditions

ENCOURAGING EXCELLENCE: Gauteng Choristers perform to great acclaim at prestigious events here and abroad. 15/11/2009. © Unknown.
ENCOURAGING EXCELLENCE: Gauteng Choristers perform to great acclaim at prestigious events here and abroad. 15/11/2009. © Unknown.

AUTENG Choristers, who count appearing in the yearly Sowetan and Transnet Foundation Massed Choir Festival among their career highlights, will celebrate their 10th anniversary in style.

AUTENG Choristers, who count appearing in the yearly Sowetan and Transnet Foundation Massed Choir Festival among their career highlights, will celebrate their 10th anniversary in style.

Celebrating 10 Excellent Years is the theme of their celebratory choral and classical music showcase at the Linder Auditorium in Parktown, Johannesburg, on November 29. They will be collaborating with the esteemed Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Doors open at 3pm. Tickets are available from Computicket.

The choir was formed in 1998 to make a positive contribution towards the development and preservation of classical and choral music. It is still encouraging excellence in the two genres by nurturing talented practitioners, who are also encouraged to study music up to tertiary level and to become exemplary professionals.

"This is evidenced by the fact that some of the choristers have auditioned successfully and are studying music at institutions such as the University of Cape Town, Hartford University in America, Tshwane University of Technology, University of KZN and some are practicing professionals, including the popular Black Tie Ensemble," the choir's marketing and communications manager Faith Sikakane said this week.

"The choir has won prestigious awards such as becoming the 2001 National Choir Festival champions, after being first and second runners up in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

"We were crowned the national champions in the South African Choral Music Association (Sacma) Eisteddford of 2003/4, and for 2006/7.

"Gauteng Choristers was also crowned the country's National Choir Festival champions for 2006/7. It was the first time in the 29-year history of this prestigious competition that the winning choir received a platinum rating, or 94 points, for the rendition of one of the prescribed pieces," she said.

"We continued our dominance in competitions where we won the SA Post Office-Sacma Eisteddford for 2007/8 and were first runners up in the Old Mutual-sponsored National Choir Festival of 2008/9."

Gauteng Choristers have performed here and abroad, including the US embassy Independence Day celebrations and the launch of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003.

"In its quest to diversify music theories, the choir has recorded with two top South African contemporary music artists, thus giving the choir a wide musical experience ranging from choral and classical music to contemporary music," Sikakane said.

"The major highlight amongst this choir's musical engagements was when it toured Europe, performing UShaka ka Senzangakhona as part of South Africa's 10th year anniversary of democracy. This is an operatic story about the life of King Shaka of the Zulu nation.

"In August 2005, an ensemble from the Gauteng Choristers was invited by the South African embassy in Indonesia to perform in celebration of Women's Day. This memorable event was such a success that some cultural exchange programmes were incepted between the two countries."

Other career highlights include featuring in an Opera Extravaganza at the Linder Auditorium 2006, "where we were also able to record live CD and DVD compilations".

"In 2007, the Gauteng Choristers toured Switzerland presenting the opera Porgy 'n Bess. It was the first South African chorus invited to perform such a challenging opera.

"In 2008 Gauteng Choristers was commissioned to perform Phillip Miller's TRC Rewind Cantata.

"This is a musical journey lamenting about our political struggle stalwarts who suffered under apartheid. The music cantata was inspired by the national Truth and Reconciliation process after the birth of a new South Africa."

In the same year, Gauteng Choristers also performed the Coming Home cantata, commissioned by Miagi, and featuring well known singers like Sibongile Khumalo and Robert Brookes, to mention a few.

Sikakane said Gauteng Choristers has benefited from the skills of international musicians such as Maestro Bernhard Gueller, Robert Maxym, and Maestro Graham Scott, who conducted the choir in a joint opera gala concert with the Black Tie Ensemble at the Pretoria State Theatre, and Sylvia Schulman, a retired concert pianist from the UK, who is the choir's resident and rehearsal pianist.

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