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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

Prof Neil Heideman awarded a Fellowship
2006-07-25

Prof Neil Heideman, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), was  awarded the Fulbright Senior Researcher Fellowship to visit the laboratory of Prof Jack Sites, a fellow herpetologist at Brigham Young University, Utah, in the United States of America (USA), from October 2006-January 2007.

The Fulbright programme is a flagship programme of the government of the USA which focuses on the exchange of international experts in a variety of educational activities such as advanced research and university lecturing.

Prof Heideman will use the opportunity to develop an understanding of the application of micro satellites (short repetitive sequences in DNA molecules) to population genetics questions.  In recent years  micro satellites have become the marker of choice for measuring genetic variability in populations. Prof Sites has extensive experience in the application of the technique and is therefore an ideal candidate to spend time with. Although not new to South Africa, the country's  capacity in the use of micro satellites is still very limited, being essentially non-existent among herpetologists.

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