Credo is a ground-breaking new multimedia oratorio to be performed at UNISA\u2019s ZK Matthews Great Hall 18-21 July 2013, in celebration of the university\u2019s 140th anniversary.
\nThe world premiere will take place on Nelson Mandela\u2019s birthday. Credo is based on the unifying values embodied in South Africa\u2019s Freedom Charter, and is intended to be a musical reflection of the social vision enshrined in that historic document. Based on the belief that South Africa has a historical and cultural obligation to share the legacy of the Freedom Charter with the world, it is hoped that Credo will be an important contribution to the growing body of 21st century artistic work based on the struggles, triumphs and victories of the country\u2019s turbulent history.<\/p>\n
The creative team behind Credo is award-winning South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen, novelist Brent Meersman, multimedia artist Andrew Black and producers Brenda Sisane and Shadrack Bokaba. Together they have created a 67 minute production that explores the endurance of the human spirit over adversity through a soaring fusion of African lyricism and rhythms with symphonic tradition.<\/p>\n
The cast will be led by Sibongile Khumalo, Otto Maidi and Monika Wassung, and accompanied by the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jonas Alber.
\nJonas Alber has been called an unparalleled magician of sound, and has been praised for a maturity that seems unimaginable for such a young conductor. When he was appointed General Music Director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig in 1998, he became the youngest conductor in Germany to hold such a post. Today he is much in demand as a guest conductor with symphony orchestras and opera companies in every part of the globe. As an operatic conductor, Alber has conducted roughly 500 performances of more than 50 operas. His repertoire ranges from traditional operas by Mozart, Puccini, and Richard Strauss to numerous new productions and premieres.<\/p>\n
Known as South Africa\u2019s first lady of song, multi-talented, soulful and dynamic, Sibongile Khumalo has enchanted diverse audiences all over South Africa and beyond. She interprets with integrity and poise a variety of musical genres: from traditional South African township jazz to Classical Western overtures. Khumalo\u2019s immense musical capacity launched her into the limelight when she won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown in 1993. She has since performed with numerous celebrated groups and artists and has graced a variety of honoured occasions, amongst them President Nelson Mandela\u2019s 75th Birthday and 1994 Inauguration. It is her amazing sense of situatedness that informs her interpretations in every genre, and makes her an ideal voice to bring CREDO: A Testament to the Freedom Charter to life.<\/p>\n
Otto Maidi began singing at a tender age of eight in his church\u2019s Sunday school and at his school. He went on to sing in various community choirs before joining the Pretoria State Theatre Chorus and the Pro Musica Opera Chorus. His debut as Zeno\u2019s father in both William Kentridge\u2019s musicals \u201cZeno @ 4 am\u201d and \u201cConfessions of Zeno\u201d saw him performing in the U.S and Europe; and as a result Maidi began his journey of becoming a classical singer. His training under Pierre du Toit at the Pretoria Technikon Opera School, and at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, (where he obtained his A rtist Certificate Degree in Vocal Performance under Prof. Barbara Hill-Moore) has stood him in good stead. Maidi has performed extensively, and continues to sing in a variety of musical styles. He is at home on both opera and concert stages; and hailed for his warm buttery tone and pure, bell-like quality.
\nMonika Wassung is Head of Music at Herzlia Middle School, and performs freelance as a singer in various genres. She recently completed a two year post in The Cape Town Opera Studio as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Opera at The University of Cape Town. She was awarded a scholarship to study at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm, was a semi-finalist and prize-winner in The South African Music Rights Organization Singing Competition, and won a bursary for overseas study from The National Arts Council. Wassung recently spent time in Germany taking part in the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival and worked with International choirs, conduc tors and orchestras. She has also started the popular company: \u2018Sing for your supper\u2019 \u2013 an organisation that combines dinner parties with a narrated opera concert, held all over South Africa at wine farms and event venues.<\/p>\n
Credo will have three performances during its world premi?re run on July 18, 19 and 21, 2013 in the ZK Matthews Great Hall at UNISA, marking the 140th year of the founding of UNISA. Tickets cost R60 to R200, and are available through Computicket.
\nIn addition to the performances, a schools and community education programme has been established. There will be a public dialogue held at 18h00 on 20 July, at Freedom Park, challenging issues around the Freedom Charter. Attendance is free. For more information or to book, contact info@thefamousidea.co.za.
\nFor more information on the project, please see www.credo-freedomcharter.com<\/p>\n
NOTES TO EDITORS:
\nThe Freedom Charter is one of the key \u201cfounding\u201d documents of a democratic South Africa and is regarded by many as second only to the constitution in the country\u2019s hierarchy of political documents. Adopted in Kliptown on 26 June 1955, the Freedom Charter was the culmination of a long nation-wide, non-racial political consultative process among the diverse constituent members of the South African Congress Alliance, which included the African National Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats, the South African Indian Congress and the Coloured Peoples\u2019 Congress.
\n50,000 thousand volunteers were sent into various communities to canvass public opinion regarding the political future of South Africa. Thus, in this seminal respect, the Freedom Charter differs from similar documents found in other democracies as it is the result of this public consultation process.
\nThe Freedom Charter states the fundamental principles and core national values of a democratic South Africa, among which are:
\n\u2022 The people shall govern
\n\u2022 All \u201cnational groups\u201d have equal rights
\n\u2022 The people shall share in the country\u2019s wealth
\n\u2022 The land shall be shared among those who work it
\n\u2022 All shall be equal before the law
\n\u2022 All shall enjoy equal human rights
\n\u2022 There shall be work and security
\n\u2022 The doors of learning and culture shall be opened
\n\u2022 There shall be houses, security and comfort
\n\u2022 There shall be peace and friendship<\/p>\n
Some 3,000 delegates attended the conference adopting the Freedom Charter and those in attendance recall that each section of the Freedom Charter was adopted to cries of \u201cAfrika!\u201d and \u201cMayibuye\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pina Ya Thari: is a company created by a bold creative vision to develop, produce and promote original classical music and opera influenced by Africa\u2019s creative arts and indigenous musical idioms. We pride ourselves in our commitment to produce high quality, accessible performances that expand on our nation\u2019s rich tapestry of indigenous vocal music and choral singing. We seek to bring new opera and classical music to a wider South African and international audience, telling our own stories, in our own languages thus claiming these art forms as our own.
\nUNISA: \u2013 Celebrating 140 years of shaping futures.
\nUnisa reaches a milestone in its history in 2013 when it celebrates its 140th anniversary. The university community will engage in a rich tapestry of celebratory activities to mark this milestone. Unisa was founded in 1873 as the University of Good Hope. It operated initially as an examining body and in 1916 changed its name to the University of South Africa (Unisa). In 1946 Unisa became the first public university in the world to teach exclusively by means of distance education.<\/p>\n
URL<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.credo-freedomcharter.com\/<\/a> Author: Fiona Gordon<\/strong> from The Famous Idea Trading Co.<\/a>. Originally distributed by MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Credo is a ground-breaking new multimedia oratorio to be performed at UNISA\u2019s ZK Matthews Great Hall 18-21 July 2013, in celebration of the university\u2019s 140th anniversary. The world premiere will take place on Nelson Mandela\u2019s birthday. Credo is based on the unifying values embodied in South Africa\u2019s Freedom Charter, and is intended to be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[3257,1452],"class_list":{"0":"post-20970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mypr","8":"tag-public-relations","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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