The Rhodes Department of Music and Musicology will be on display in a Gala Concert on Thursday in the Guy Butler Theatre, Monument at 7.30pm.
The Rhodes Department of Music and Musicology will be on display in a Gala Concert on Thursday in the Guy Butler Theatre, Monument at 7.30pm.
The performance will showcase the Rhodes University Symphony Orchestra which comprises Rhodes staff and students, top young musicians from local schools VG, DSG/SAC and Kingswood College, as well as invited musicians from the East Cape Philharmonic and Cape Philharmonic Orchestras.
The exciting 60 minute musical extravaganza features the Rhodes Vocalists, local soloists Jo-Nette Le Kay and Catherine Foxcroft, and star violinist, Neo Motsatse who performed recently at the NAF.
The curtain will rise to the sounds of the VP String Ensemble after which conductor David Scarr will lead the performance. After the concert, the Rhodes Jazz musicians will perform in the reception area, where guests are invited to chat to the performers in a candle-lit cheese and wine reception.
The concert is a fund raising initiative. All proceedings from the concert will be donated towards a BMus first-year bursary, which will be awarded to a student next year. They hope to raise enough money to cover full student fees.
Pre-bookings for tickets are available at the Rhodes Music Department from Denétha Peters (d.peters@ru.ac.za) and Chris Dyokomba (c.dyokomba@ru.ac.za). Tickets will also be on sale at the door.
The Rhodes University vocalists consists of Instrumental Music Studies singing students who are taught under and led by Jo-Nette Le Kay.
Along with Jo-Nette, notable student soloists who will perform in arias and duets in the concert are students Robert Louw, Katryn Niewoudt, Lara-Nolan Neylan, Emma Farquharson, Nonsikelelo Bangasi, Zintle Manengana, Siki Qwazi, and Daniel Lulu.
The rest of the vocal students form part of the chorus.
Adult: R90; pensioner: R50; students and scholars: R30; school block bookings: R20; cheese and wine reception: R80.
Neo Motsatse, 16, is a talented young violinist who started playing violin at the age of six.
She has, over the years, participated in a number of competitions, concerts and private performances, including headlining her own concerts for six years in succession.
She won the gold medal at the National Eisteddfod Academy 2015 performing a duet with Althea Steynberg on the recorder accompanied by Sergio Zampolli on accordion and was the Silver medal winner at the Samro Hubert Van der Spuy National Music education where she was also given an award for the best performance of a Baroque piece.
Her annual music concerts, Neo Motsatse the Concert (NMtC), are fast becoming “must-not-miss-affairs” as she incorporates different music eras from baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary periods as well as bring together some of the professional and young musicians in the country.
Neo captured the hearts of South African audiences when she did her national tour last year which featured five cities: Johannesburg, East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
The highlight was, however, featuring Neo Motsatse the Concert at the National Arts Festival where she performed five concerts in five days and was awarded the Standard Bank Ovation Award.
Neo’s musicality and ability to bring classical music to people has been the success factor for her concerts. She has used this talent to perform specially and symphonically arranged South African and other popular music pieces to the delight of her audiences.
From concertos to pop, Neo traverses the musical landscape with finesse and a deep understanding of the music.
Neo achieved a “hat trick” of performing as a soloist with all three major orchestras in Gauteng – the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO), the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra (JSO) and the Rand Symphony Orchestra (RSO).
She has featured in some of the leading publications, radio stations and television programmes. Her musical prowess has been honed under the tutelage of one of the leading violin teachers and Pedagogy Prof. Jack de Wet in Cape Town.
