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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

Measures to ensure safer campuses are investigated
2010-04-16

The safety of students, lecturers and staff of the University of the Free State (UFS) is of the utmost importance for the management of this institution and deliberations are continuously taking place on what can be done to improve the levels of safety of the respective campuses in Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa.

A set of recommendations was recently tabled by our rectorate that make provision for various measures for safer campuses. According to Prof. Niel Viljoen, Vice-Rector: Operations at the UFS, attention will urgently be paid to the following recommendations:

  • The instalment of alarm systems, linked to the central security control room, in all buildings on the respective campuses.
  • The instalment of “panic systems” in strategic places in buildings.
  • Where possible, better admission control to buildings, especially office blocks.
  • Better management en integration of contracted-in security workers.
  • Enhancement/upgrading and better monitoring of the security control room and sharpening of reaction times in cases of emergency.
  • Repair and maintenance of the current border fencing.
  • A survey was once again done of all the so-called “dark spots” on campus and the instalment more effective lighting are currently in progress.
  • Safeguarding of footways and parking areas by means of cameras and panic systems that will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • Better and more visible patrolling of the pedestrian walkways and campuses.

Regular and structured feedback regarding the safety situation at all campuses shall also be done.

According to Prof. Viljoen the following recommendations shall also be investigated further:

- The feasibility of the “closing” of the campus, especially in terms of transport implications, costs and effectiveness.
- The possible closing of the small pedestrian gates in order to channel pedestrian traffic through the existing and manned gates.
- The feasibility of the compulsory wearing of ID cards by all personnel, students and temporary workers.
 

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