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Famed string instruments at home with Odeion String Quartet

16 February 2023 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Anja Aucamp

Quarter of Peace_web read more — Samson Diamond, Jeanne-Louise Moolman, Prof Anmari van der Westhuizen-Joubert, and Sharon de Kock with the QoP instruments created by luthier Brian Lisus to honour SA’s Nobel peace laureates.

Hope, the viola; Freedom, the first violin; Peace, the second violin; and Reconciliation, the cello, collectively known as the Quartet of Peace (QoP), have found their home at the UFS. The Odeion String Quartet (OSQ) has been made the custodians of this world-famous quartet created by Brian Lisus. The instruments were created by Lisus in 2010 to commemorate the four Nobel peace laureates of South Africa, namely Albert Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk, and Desmond Tutu. In March 2022, Lisus presented a lecture in the Odeion Theatre to officially present these instruments to the UFS.

Many new performing opportunities

“The trustees found that justice will be done by making the Odeion String Quartet the new custodians, since they are the only quartet-in-residence at a South African university,” says Prof Anmari van der Westhuizen-Joubert, cellist and Head of the OSQ.

As the custodians of the QoP, it brought many new performing opportunities, both nationally and internationally. “It can also be used in presentations of lectures on all subjects and not only of a political nature. In this way, string quartet music reaches more people than just those who go to concert halls,” Prof Van der Westhuizen-Joubert says. The OSQ consists of Prof Van der Westhuizen-Joubert (cellist), Samson Diamond (violinist and leader of the string quartet), Sharon de Kock (violinist), and Jeanne-Louise Moolman (violinist).

Unique part of UFS identity

The uniqueness of the QoP instruments will be an important element of the OSQ, the Odeion School of Music, the Faculty of the Humanities, as well as the entire UFS community. “One of the plans is to raise money to enable students to come and study with the Odeion String Quartet members at the UFS,” Prof Van der Westhuizen-Joubert says. Another historic moment with these instruments took place in October 2022, when the instruments took centre stage at a concert hosted by Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. At this event, the QoP instruments were introduced to the public, important stakeholders, and to guests of the UFS. Other plans include trips to international festivals such as the Ojai Music Festival in the USA in 2023 and the String Quartet Biennale in Amsterdam in 2024.

*This article first appeared in the Bult Magazine.

News Archive

Church Mirror 2010 kicks off from the Free State

2010-10-04

Prof. Kobus Schoeman

Prof. Kobus Schoeman, Head of the Department of Practical Theology at the University of the Free State (UFS), is one of the project leaders of Church Mirror, a unique research project in the family of Dutch Reformed Churches in South Africa.

Over the years Church Mirror has been established as an important source of information for the Dutch Reformed Church. The church is provided with information by means of surveys that assist in reflection on the church as well as congregations’ role and functioning.

The 2010 survey will be no exception. The survey is conducted on the instruction of the General Synod and in collaboration with the Department of Practical Theology at the UFS. This year, the project is also extended to other churches in the Dutch Reformed Church family for the first time.

The questionnaire forms part of the National Church Life Survey, which is done internationally. The questionnaire is completed by everybody who attends a church service on a specific Sunday. Questions that are asked include, “What do the members of the congregation think of their congregation and church services?”, “Are outsiders welcome?” and “Do we care about the community?”

The first survey was done amongst churchgoers at a service in 2006.

Church Mirror is an important research project to outline the profile of mainstream churches in South Africa and it can play a major role in congregations’ planning and reflection upon themselves.

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