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06 September 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath | Photo Sonia Small (Kaleidoscope Studios)


Star-studded performance

Well-known artists such as Caroline-Grace, an alumna of the UFS, together with the Odeion String Quartet, the Odeion School of Music Camerata (OSMC) and Corneil Muller, dazzled us with their star-studded performances during the recent 2021 Rector’s Concert. As if that’s not enough, the outstanding performances by Thabo Pitse and HD El Classico, the BOSSa Quartet, Organized Chaos, Boitumelo Mohutsioa (aka Be), Dineo Bokala, Ilse Fourie, and students Sivuyisiwe Mbeka, Zama Zulu, and Hlubandile Zibula left us in awe. 

For more than a year, physical performances have been replaced by virtual ones in an attempt to adapt to the current context. The presence of an audience has always been an integral part of music concerts; but we find ourselves in unusual times today, where physical distancing has altered the relationship between performers and the audience, and further changed the way in which artists express their profession. The pandemic and containment measures have tested the mental health, well-being, and resilience of everyone.

Concert dedicated to our students

In an attempt to ensure that you, our audience and our artists, could have an experience as close to normal as possible, creative methods had to be employed to connect our talented artists with you at a time when people are kept apart and at a distance. This year, the UFS presented its second virtual Rector’s Concert, which was pre-recorded in the Odeion Theatre on the Bloemfontein Campus in adherence to strict COVID-19 protocols. 

The 2021 Rector’s Concert was dedicated to our students – particularly our first-year students who are studying at a distance and have not yet had the opportunity to spend time on our campuses.  The concert was certainly a virtual celebration of our many accomplishments, despite the challenges we are all facing this year – and our talented artists have made this possible.  

Watch recording of the 2021 Rector's Concert below:

 


News Archive

Knific Duo from US lecture and perform at OSM
2017-05-12

Description: ' 000 Knific Duo Tags: Knific Duo

Profs Tom Knific and Renata Artman Knific from the Western
Michigan University School of Music are visiting the Odeion
School of Music at the University of the Free State.
Photo: Supplied

The renowned Knific Duo will not only perform at the University of the Free State (UFS) soon, but will also share their expertise at the Odeion School of Music (OSM). The duo, consisting of Profs Tom Knific and Renata Artman Knific, from the prestigious Western Michigan University School of Music, are presenting a masterclass series hosted by the OSM Concert Agency. The series takes place from 10-14 May 2017 and the concert on 16 May 2017.

Concert features local pianists

The first half of the concert on 16 May 2017 will present a programme leaning towards the classical genre. Apart from three works composed by Prof Knific, it will also include two movements from the Violin Sonata by the Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa. 
In the second half Prof Knific will collaborate with two local pianists, the legendary jazz pianist, composer and music educator, Noel Stockton, and the talented Andile Qongqo, and for a carefully curated jazz programme mainly from the oeuvre of Prof Knific. Random Dreams, a work composed by Stockton will also be included.

Well-known around the world

Prof Knific (double bass) is a Professor at the Department of Jazz at the Western Michigan University School of Music. He has been principal bassist of orchestras from the US to Europe and performed as a soloist and in chamber music festivals around the world. He also is a former president of the International Society of Bassists.

Prof Artman Knific (violin) is a professor of violin at the same institution. Her international career began in London at 21 when she joined the English Chamber Orchestra. Tours of Europe, North and South America and Asia followed where she collaborated with artists such as Herman Bauman and Isaac Stern. She has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Christoph Eschenbach, and recorded records for EMI, Decca, and CBS labels.
 
Date: 16 May 2017
Time: 19:30
Place: Odeion (Bloemfontein Campus)

Musicians interested in masterclasses can contact Ninette Pretorius at  pretoriusn@ufs.ac.za

 

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