South African talents gave Carnegie Hall a series of performances that’ll go down as dreams come true!
Global (15 August 2024) — South African musicians recently took to Carnegie Hall’s famed stage with talent, culture and the sounds of South Africa in a series of performances that made World Orchestra Week a symphony of success.
For any musician, performing at Carnegie Hall only happens when one’s eyes are closed and is often interrupted by an alarm. But for an abundance of South Africans part of the Africa United Youth Orchestra, there was no sleep necessary for this dream to be experienced.
World Orchestra Week carves out an important time in the international music community’s calendar to celebrate the sounds of the world. The instruments might be similar or the same, but the energy with which they’re played never is—especially with compositions from home countries reigning supreme.
For the newly united African United Youth Orchestra organised by the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra, it was a chance to showcase Africa’s best, young and now without question, world class musicians. You might recall a handful of them as the Stellies 6 who were selected for the Orchestra on strings!
In an ode to the countries that made them who they are, musicians were asked to adorn clothes from their culture.
“We were asked to bring items of clothing to represent our culture and how surreal it was to bring the Khoi with me. Performing works by South African composers and getting the audience to their feet with Miriam Makeba’s Pata Pata was a moment of feeling “Proudly South African” in a moment in South African history that feels so uncertain,” reflects violinist Lynn Daphne Rudolph who also led the viola section for the tour.
Meanwhile in other exciting news for young musicians on home soil, 20 talents from all parts of South Africa have been selected to compete in the prestigious National Youth Music Competition!
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