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14 October 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Sonia Small
OSM Camerata
The OSM Camerata also performed at the Rector’s Concert on 6 September under direction of conductor Elsabe Raath.


The Odeion School of Music Camerata (OSMC) is one of the flagship music ensembles at the University of the Free State (UFS). Its reputation as one of the country’s top student chamber ensembles far equlas its impeccable music.

At the end of September the Camerata undertook a tour with concerts in Pretoria and Johannesburg. They held a concert in the new Javett Arts Centre at the University of Pretoria (UP) where they presented a lunch-hour concert which featured modern musical arrangements. At a gala concert, on 28 September 2019, which was hosted in the Musaion Concert hall at UP they collaborated with the UP Department of Music and the Gauteng Chamber Music Festival.  

The last leg of the tour ended at the University of the Witwatersrand Atrium on 29 September 2019. According Marius Coetzee, innovation manager at the OSM: “it is important to go on tour in order to recruit new outstanding students and to showcase the excellence of the Camerata and the Odeion School of Music.” 

The OSMC has also forged a professional internship with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra to solidify and advance the skills of the young orchestral musicians. 

The OSMC was also the 2017 and 2018 winner of the International Ictus Music competition.  

The OSMC was strategically founded by Marius Coetzee to serve as a feasible incubator for nurturing of fully rounded musicians who are thoroughly prepared for the demands of their trade as orchestral musicians, soloists and conductors.  

News Archive

UFS welcomes the class of 2010
2010-01-13

Pictured with Prof Jansen are, from the left: Christo Smal (B.Sc. Quantity Surveying student from Bloemfontein), Nicole Tarentaal (LL.B. student from Bloemfontein), Charmoné Swartz (LL.B. student from Kimberley) and Lizé de Witt (B.Sc. Quantity Surveying student from Bloemfontein).
Photo: Stephen Collett


The University of the Free State (UFS) welcomed its first-time entering first-year students on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this past weekend.

Addressing the new students and their parents at the ceremony, the Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof. Jonathan Jansen assured the new students and their parents that “they are at the right place”.

“We will not cut corners with your child’s education as we are serious about the quality of the education we provide,” he said to the parents. “We shall make sure that our students are distinguished among graduates from other universities – that they are leaders. Quality is not negotiable.”

Prof. Jansen also said the standards of admission at the UFS would be raised. “We need students of a higher academic standard,” he said.

“Our students will obtain a degree they will be proud of. We are going to put everything into their education and experience here at the UFS so that they can be the best in their field of study.”

He told the new students and their parents that they were safe at the UFS as no first-year student would be initiated anymore. He said that there were other ways to create self-respect and confidence in a young person without having to use initiation.

“It is not enough to have a degree,” he said. “We want to link your degree to thorough preparation for the workplace. Your degree must be accepted globally.”

Prof. Jansen further emphasised the importance of students to understand one another and to get along with one another – especially with those who speak a language different from their own and with a different skin colour than theirs.

“Our students must have respect for one another. This is a value that should be added to your qualification in order for you to be relevant in the workplace anywhere in the world.”

He said the university was busy with a programme to install computer points in all the residences. He also extolled the virtues of the UFS, citing excellence in sport, music, debating and other activities.

Prof. Jansen also reiterated the fact that the first group of 100 first-year students who would be sent overseas to study during the second semester would come from this class of 2010.

“The class of 2010 will change Kovsies. They will be the best students that have ever graduated,” he said.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za  
12 January 2010
 

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