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16 February 2023 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Anja Aucamp
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

Faculty of Education discusses new curricula at summit
2012-03-07

 

Die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde se nuut-aangepaste B.Ed.-programme word binnekort by die Nasionale Departement van Hoër Onderwys en Opleiding ingedien vir herakkreditasie. Proff. Rita Niemann (links), Direkteur vir Nagraadse Studie en Navorsing, en Gawie du Toit, Direkteur vir Aanvanklike Onderwysersopvoeding, is aan die stuur van die herkurrikuleringsproses vir voorgraadse en nagraadse programme van die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde.
6 March 2012

The training of professional teachers rests on a strong curriculum. For this reason, the Faculty of Education has been re-looking at the curricula of the B.Ed. programme for the past two years.

Before this programme is submitted for approval and accreditation, the Education Faculty’s staff from the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses will attend a summit at the Gariep Dam on 7 and 8 March 2012. This summit is a sequel to guidelines drawn up by the National Department of Higher Education and Training on adjusted requirements for teacher training. It determines that all initial teacher training and honours programmes be recurriculated and resubmitted for accreditation. These requirements were published in the Government Gazette in July 2011 and involve all education faculties in the country.
 
Deans and line heads of other faculties, including Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Humanities, and Economic and Management Sciences, have also become involved as Education students often register for modules in these faculties.
 
Last week a team from the UFS’s Education Faculty also attended a workshop presented by the Council on Higher Education where the criteria for recurriculation and the evaluation of programmes were discussed.
 
Prof. Gawie du Toit of the UFS’s Faculty of Education says curriculation is not merely a technical process but requires thorough reflection and conceptualisation, involving various roleplayers.
“It is important that recurriculation should take place over a period of time to allow for sufficient time for reflection, absorption and ownership.”
 
Thus, the aim of the Gariep Dam summit is to introduce a teachers’ training program that will provide graduates with the necessary knowledge, skills and responsibilities to take up their places as academics and professional beginner teachers.
 
During these two days students in Education will not attend any classes but they are tasked with self study and to complete assignments.

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