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12 March 2018 Photo Hanno Otto
Odeion School of Music opening concert presented on 17 March 2018
The Odeion School of Music Camerata 2018.

The University of the Free State’s Odeion School of Music is presenting the annual opening concert on Saturday, 17 March at 7:30pm at the Odeion. The programme will comprise a curated sequence of solo recitals, chamber music, including ensembles recited by the talented OSM students.

The Free State Youth Wind Ensemble will make their debut as part of the programme with an Ammerland recital by the Dutch composer Jacob den Haan (1959 -) as well as Majestia by James Swearingen (1947 -), an American born composer. This composition will be accompanied by a variety of diverse works.

George Foster and colleague Danré Strydom founded the ensemble in the form of a collaboration initiative between the Odeion School of Music and the Free State Symphony Orchestra. Six cellists, Chris van Zyl, Aschlin Grobbelaar, Marcus Motaung, Matthys Coetzee and John Minnaar will join forces with Prof Anmari van der Westhuizen to recite the riveting Requiem for Six Cellos and Piano, Op.66 by David Popper. 

During the concert, the OSM will bestow the Order of the OSM on string pedagogues Francois and Tilla Henkins, as a gesture of gratitude and respect for their lifelong dedication to the education and mentoring of several excellent South African violinists and cellists.

The OSM Camerata will end the concert with a rendition of the Romanian Folk Dances, Sz.56 Béla Bartok for Orchestra under the baton of Xavier Cloete. The OSM Camerata is the laureate of the first International Ictus Music Competition (University and Conservatory Orchestras) presented last year for the first time. For more information about the Odeion School of Music and the upcoming concert please visit the website.

News Archive

International ties for OSM
2013-08-21

 

Prof Nicol Viljoen in the historic Teatr Zdrojowy in Walbrzych, Poland
20 August 2013


Profs Nicol and Martina Viljoen from the Odeion School of Music (OSM) recently undertook a very successful trip to Europe where Prof Nicol Viljoen rendered two solo piano recitals in Poland. They also delivered a joint paper at a congress in Budapest.

The first of the two recitals were held in Crakow at the famed Zespol Panstwowych School of Music. At this event, Prof Viljoen essentially recited Chopin Mazurkas and was invited to repeat this performance in Poland in the future.

The second piano recital was in the historicTeatr Zdrojowy im. Henryka Wieniawskiego in Walbrzych. This concert included Preludes, Mazurkas, as well as the Ballad in G minor by Chopin. After the Mazurkas, the audience rewarded Prof Viljoen with a standing ovasion – and again at the end of the concert. As a result of this, the chief organiser of the event, Jerzy Kosek, who is also the conductor of the Filharmonia Sudecka, invited Prof Viljoen to perform as soloist with his orchestra next year.

Kosek also invited Conducting students at the OSM to work with the Filharmonia under his leadership on an exchange basis. He indicated that he would like to strengthen the ties with the University of the Free State and the Odeion School of Music. Two members of the Filharmonia Sudecka are currently doctoral students in Performing Arts at the OSM, namely Karol Legierski (concertmaster) and Marianne Cilliers (first violin), while the co-concertmaster, Dorota Graca, is in the process of registering for doctoral studies at the OSM.

The paper delivered by Profs Viljoen in Budapest, formed part of the interdisciplinary congress, ‘The Arts in Society,’ where more than twenty countries were represented. Their paper dealt with the post-apartheid oeuvre of the South African composer, Hans Huyssen. Charla Schutte, another doctoral student at the OSM, delivered a paper on an interpretation of indoctrination songs on the basis of an analytical model by the philosopher Johann Visagie.

During the trip, Prof Martina Viljoen also had a productive meeting with the executive manager of Common Ground Publishers, an academic publisher based in the USA, with a view to publish work from the OSM.

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