Kzn Philharmonic Orchestra

KZN Philharmonic: Spirits soars as artists come together in musical celebration

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South Africans are invited on an extraordinary orchestral journey through the Covid-19 trauma to a place of healing and soaring upliftment.

Music lovers of any genre will be able access the carefully designed Joy of Classical Music on the Virtual National Arts Festival’s (vNAF) vFringe programme here.

What makes this performance historic is that 47 isolated, but dedicated, classical musicians of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic had not played in the same physical space for three months prior to emerging from their homes to create music together. There was energy fritzing in the air from the moment the artists stepped onto two buses provided for the road trip from Durban to Hilton College for the live recording of a full symphonic repertoire.

Masked, physically distanced, all Covid-19 protocols were in place, but none of it was untenable.

What mattered to these finely-honed musical athletes was that they were finally together, recalls the orchestra’s CEO and artistic director Bongani Tembe.

When the orchestra was settled in the school’s concert hall with its lovely acoustics, he said the hot desire for live collaboration was palpable.
Under the baton of Lykele Temmingh, the orchestra produced one of the most extraordinary musical performances. Tembe believes it will breathe life and spirit back into lockdown-ravaged homes in South Africa and the world.

The show has premiered on the vFringe programme this week and remains available the form of a livestreamed video-on-demand at vNAF at a cost of R100 per viewing, and will be available until 16 July. Tembe says the eight pieces, all standout classics, were curated specifically to express the deep feelings experienced by the people during lockdown.

“This is music of the soul intended to help us reflect and start the healing. We, as artists, are doing this by uniting and collaborating.”

The final compositions would “uplift and entertain”.

He says families will be able to sit together in their lounges, and let the music flow over them.

When the live recording was over, the artists were buzzing with excitement, he said. “They knew that they still had it and that they got it. There was a feeling of accomplishment.”

He said he selected a variety of classical compositions ranging across emotions, from Elgar’s soulful and introspective Salut d’amour to Dvořák’s uptempo Slavonic Dances. The performance includes timeless treasures from Grieg’s Holberg Suite to Barber’s Adagio for Strings with highlights from Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 and Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. The performance is introduced by popular Classic 1027 presenter Deano Maduramuthu.

Tembe said the musicians pent up emotions stemmed from being holed up at home after the orchestra’s winter programme was abruptly canceled by the pandemic. But the players refused to be silenced.

Tembe said: “After we had to cancel our winter season, the orchestra had to resort to other creative ways in order to continue uplifting spirits of people around the country by sharing the musical experience with their audiences.”
When the pandemic hammer came down, the artists quickly regrouped and launched an online re-imagining of the iconic hymn, Amazing Grace. This was a collaborative tribute to Covid-19 frontline workers and was recorded by a combined and massive 94 musicians of the Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestras, all playing remotely in their homes.

Tembe, who is the artistic director of both orchestras, said the video had taken the world by surprise and went viral. “We were ahead of the curve,” he quipped with pride.

The orchestras kept going, producing work which honoured mothers and Africa Day.

Explaining the inaugural vNAF programme, he said: “The festival will take place entirely on the festival website and will comprise a daily curated programme of shows, workshops and events; as well as a special Virtual Fringe section with multiple performances to choose from. We are very grateful to the National Arts Festival for hosting the vFringe on the festival website as this means that the process is free of high third party platform costs (which are usually charged in dollars) and 90% of the ticket sales will go to orchestra/artists, with just 10% be allocated to the festival to help cover their banking and administrative fees.

Tickets to the orchestra’s performance can be purchased by clicking on the programme here.

Contact: Reena Makan, marketing manager, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra
reception@kznphil.org.za
Office: (031) 369 9438
Cell: (083) 777 9843

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