Fortune changes overnight for music centre
2005-08-25
THE air was still electrified in the afterglow of the world première performance of A Song for Mandela when Cameron Dugmore, minister of Education for the Western Cape, mounted the stage to make some announcements at the conclusion of the breathtaking youth symphony orchestra concert of the Frank Pietersen Music Centre in Paarl on Saturday.
The Mandela song had just been conducted by world acclaimed conductor, Dr Alun Francis from Berlin, who had composed the work earlier this year especially for the learners of the Music Centre on the occasion of the Centre’s 35th anniversary.
Dugmore announced that a sponsor from the call centre industry would fund 10 teaching posts in the Western Cape, of which three would be allocated to the Frank Pietersen Music Centre.
Before the end of November, the Frank Pietersen Music Centre, assisted by the Department of Education, the mayor of the Cape Winelands District Municipality and the mayor of Paarl, would organise a gala fundraising evening to showcase the business plans of the Centre in the Paarl area.
As far as the lack of permanent premises was concerned, he said: “The time has arrived that you, with our help, purchase the building you are now leasing so that you can expand and grow. We will be part of this purchasing plan.”
Earlier that evening, mayor Herman Bailey stated that in December this year five learners from the Frank Pietersen Music Centre would be flown to Hamburg, Germany, to take part in a concert in which Johnny Clegg and the cast of the Lion King would perform in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Learners from the Centre had also been invited to participate in a youth music festival in Hamburg in 2007.
The anniversary concert, which amply showcased the abilities of the Centre’s learners, ended with awards for significant roleplayers in the development of the Centre.
Song for Mandela
Dr Francis, a specialist in 21st century orchestral music, had combined solo and choral voice with classical orchestra, African and jazz instruments in this riveting creation.
Electric guitars, African marimbas and drums, and a full range of classical instruments - strings, wind and percussion - converged in a celebration of sound which held the audience spell-bound.
To supplement the Centre’s choir, he recruited a further three Paarl primary school choirs, namely Charleston Hill, Ebenezer and Courtrai.
“Our youth can now grow into confident and creative adults,” was the closing remark of Vaughan Pietersen.
Former president Dr Nelson Mandela sent a message from Morocco regretting that he was unable to attend the concert.
To join Friends of the Frank Pietersen Music Centre, contact Broidy Ortell on 872-2123/4 or principal@ fpmusiccentre.org.za
The concerts were held in association with the Rotary Club of Tygerberg.
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