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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

Kovsies salute its Guinness World Record Holder
2012-02-03

 

Volksblad journalist Christal-Liza Thomas interviewed Hermann van Heerden.
Photo: Amanda Tongha


He had to wait three months for the Guinness World Record office to verify his world-record attempt but it is now official. Kovsie-student Hermann van Heerden is a Guinness World Record holder.

On 01 February 2012 the B.Ed. Kovsie student proudly showed his certificate to Prof. Jonathan Jansen and others at the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). In October 2011 Hermann, who was born with spina bifida, a developmental congenital disorder, wheeled himself into the record books by holding a stationary wheelie in his wheelchair for 10 hours and 1 second.

He achieved this record as part of celebrations marking a decade of existence for the Unit for Students with Disabilities (USD) at the UFS.

With the support of his fellow Kovsies, Hermann embarked on his record attempt on 11 October last year. He started at 03:15 and held his wheelie until 13:16.

The minimum time set for Hermann to achieve a Guinness World Record was four hours and he bettered this by six hours. During his attempt, the Kovsie student did not have any food or water and was not allowed a bathroom break.

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