Mandela’s legacy will be celebrated as Classical Movements presents 10th annual Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival.
Established in 2009 with a special focus on collaboration and service, Classical Movements’ extraordinary Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival features a true diversity of international choirs performing for effusive audiences in every venue imaginable, making for what the Cape Times calls “singing that nourishes the body and soul.” Over the past decade, Ihlombe! has featured nearly 90 choirs from some 10 countries throughout the entirety of South Africa.
From July 1—20, 2018, the 10th anniversary edition of Ihlombe! will honor the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
In the spirit of Madiba’s prized ideals of “Hope, Freedom & Unity,” select youth and collegiate choirs hailing from five major American cities—Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, D.C.—will perform 13 collaborative concerts with more than 15 African youth, church and community ensembles, exchanging cultures through shared workshops, side-by-side rehearsals and outreach projects across the Rainbow Nation.
Two world premieres commissioned by Classical Movements
On Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. at the historic St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, the 10th annual Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival’s “Mandela at 100: Voices of Hope, Freedom & Unity” celebration will feature individual performances from all participating ensembles, as well as two world premieres commissioned by Classical Movements’ own Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program for the entire 2018 Ihlombe! mass choir, conducted by world-renowned Sidumo Nyamazele, Africa Specialist at the University of Johannesburg Choir.
- Decorated University of KwaZulu-Natal Professor Phelelani Mnomiya has composed a powerful setting of Madiba’s famous It’s In Your Hands Now speech – delivered on his 90th birthday during the 46664 AIDS charity concert at London’s Hyde Park.
- Penning his own text for the second Ihlombe! mass choir commission, award-winning University of the Western Cape Professor Sibusiso Njeza’s Uthando Nomculo (“Love and Music”) piece urges us all, in his words, “to love more, to see beyond the color of one’s skin, religion and sexuality.”
Throughout his remarkable life and career in activism and politics, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) left a legacy rich in justice and joy. The efforts of leaders including Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired his own and Mandela’s memory outside of South Africa is often vividly associated with ideals more than events, particularly those of Hope, Freedom, and Unity. The two World Premieres commissioned for the festival and the ensembles selected for this year’s Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival represent the festival’s celebration of these ideals and Mandela’s triumph over oppression and his subsequent commitment to reconciliation.
From the opening celebration to the collaborative finale concert, the Ihlombe! festival is a force unlike any other with choirs and music from all over the world!
2018 IHLOMBE! Participants
South African Choirs will include:
African Youth Choir; Bulelani Khala – Diepkloof
Amabhukudwana; Junior Ngwenya – Johannesburg
Amici De Lumine Choir; Michaelangelo Cloete – Mowbray
Amy Biehl Choir – Gugulethu
Church of the Resurrection Anglican Church Choir; Roger Horne – Bonteheuwel
Eersterivier-South Uniting Reform Youth Choir; Mr Ellicson Dourie – Eersterivier
iGugu le Kapa Chamber Choir; Phumelele Tsewu – Gugulethu
Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society; George Mxadana (OIS) – Soweto
Kensington Chorale Girls Choir; Lizl Gaffley – Kenmere
Kenmere Primary Junior and School Choirs; Lizl Gaffley – Kenmere
Mzomhle Youth Choir; Lwando Thyuthu – Khayelitsha
Nazaret Youth Choir – Khayelitsha
South African Youth Choir; Phil Robinson – Cape Town
South Cape Children’s Choir; Jan-Erik Swart – George
St. Charles Lwanga Catholic Church Choir; Evah Mahlaela – Soshanguve
Additional choirs to be added
International Choirs will include:
Atlanta Young Singers; Paige F. Mathis – Atlanta, USA
Children’s Chorus of Washington;
Margaret Nomura Clark – Washington D.C., USA
Imbizo; Mandla Khumalo – Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Inkanyezi Zezulu; Philani Moyo – Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Mt. San Antonio College Chamber Singers; Bruce Rogers – Los Angeles, USA
Seattle Children’s Chorus; Kris Mason – Seattle, USA
Singing Sensations Youth Choir; Dr. Holley Hood-Mincey – Baltimore, USA
2018 IHLOMBE! SOUTH AFRICAN CHORAL FESTIVAL CONCERTS in Cape Town & Surrounds
SUN, JULY 1: 15h00
Church of the Resurrection, 24 David Profit St, Bonteheuwel
Amici De Lumine Choir; Michaelangelo Cloete – Mowbray
Children’s Chorus of Washington; Margaret Nomura Clark – Washington, D.C.
Church of the Resurrection Anglican Church Choir; Roger Horne – Bonteheuwel
Eersterivier-South Uniting Reform Youth Choir; Ellicson Dourie – Eersterivier
FREE ENTRANCE!
For more information: Roger Horne – 071 900 8402; rogerhorne936@gmail.com
MON, JULY 2: 19h00
Kenmere Primary School Hall, 10th Ave, Kensington
Children’s Chorus of Washington; Margaret Nomura Clark – Washington, D.C.
Kensington Chorale Girls’ Choir; Lizl Gaffley – Kenmere
Kenmere Primary Junior Choir; Lizl Gaffley – Kenmere
Kenmere Primary School Choir; Lizl Gaffley – Kenmere
TICKETS: R50
For more information: Lizl Gaffley – 076 026 2512; lizlgaf@gmail.com
TUES, JULY 17: 18h30
Church of the Resurrection, 24 David Profit St, Bonteheuwel
Amici De Lumine Choir; Michaelangelo Cloete – Mowbray
Atlanta Young Singers; Paige F. Mathis – Atlanta, Georgia
Church of the Resurrection Anglican Church Choir; Roger Horne – Bonteheuwel
Eersterivier-South Uniting Reform Youth Choir; Ellicson Dourie – Eersterivier
Mt. San Antonio College Choir; Bruce Rogers – Los Angeles, California
FREE ENTRANCE!
For more information:
Roger Horne – 071 900 8402; rogerhorne936@gmail.com
TUES, JULY 17: 18h30
Bongweni Church Hall, Old Apostolic Church, Khayelitsha
Mzomhle Youth Choir; Lwando Thyuthu – Khayelitsha
Nazaret Youth Choir; Bongani Magatyana – Khayelitsha
Seattle Children’s Chorus; Kris Mason – Seattle, Washington
Singing Sensations Youth Choir; Dr. Holley Hood-Mincey – Baltimore, Maryland
FREE ENTRANCE!
For more information: Bongani Magatyana – 072 392 4120; bongani.magatyana@hotmail.com
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 18h30
St. George’s Cathedral, 5 Wale St, Cape Town
“Mandela at 100: Voices of Hope, Freedom & Unity”
Atlanta Young Singers; Paige F. Mathis – Atlanta, GA
iGugu le Kapa Chamber Choir; Phumelele Tsewu – Gugulethu
Kensington Chorale Girls Choir; Lizl Gaffley – Kenmere
Mt. San Antonio College Choir; Bruce Rogers – Los Angeles, CA
Seattle Children’s Chorus; Kris Mason – Seattle, WA
Singing Sensations Youth Choir; Dr. Holley Hood-Mincey – Baltimore, MD
South African Youth Choir; Phil Robinson – Cape Town
TICKETS: R60 & R30 pensioners and students via Quicket
THURS, JULY 19
Desmond Mpilo Tutu Secondary School Mbekweni, Paarl
Seattle Children’s Chorus; Kris Mason – Seattle, Washington
Concert for students and faculty
WHAT: “Mandela at 100: Voices of Hope, Freedom & Unity”
WHEN & WHERE: JULY 1 – 20, 2018:
Johannesburg, Soweto, Cape Town, Bonteheuwel, Khayelitsha,
George, Port Elizabeth
12 Concerts | 2 World Premieres | 20+ Ensembles
Choirs from Washington DC, Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles, Baltimore
ABOUT CLASSICAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Since 1994
Since the election of President Nelson Mandela, Classical Movements has arranged some 200 concerts throughout South Africa, collaborating with the Rainbow Nation’s great and famous orchestras and choirs. Over the last quarter-century, Classical Movements has taken more than 50 foreign ensembles, with touring parties between 40-210 musicians, across South Africa.
In addition, Classical Movements has arranged extensive international tours for six South African choirs and given back nearly a quarter-million dollars to a diversity of South African causes: choir loft restoration in Alexandra, benefit concerts for Johannesburg’s orphans, workshops for Soweto’s choirs, instrument donations in the Eastern Cape, home construction in the Western Cape, home repair on Orange Farm, black rhino conservation. And through our Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program, Classical Movements has commissioned seven world premieres from leading South African composers, such as Stephen Carletti, Mokale Koapeng and Bongani Ndodana-Breen.
In 2009, to celebrate 15 years of touring to South Africa, Classical Movements launched the Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival. The Zulu word for “applause,” apropos, Ihlombe! quickly became “the largest annual international choral gathering in the country” (Cape Times).
The 2018 Ihlombe! Festival is one of four projects Classical Movements has dedicated to celebrate the Mandela centennial this summer. The 2018 Serenade! Washington, D.C. Choral Festival also marks the Mandela centennial with performances by 12 choirs from 9 countries, including the world premieres of 10 new pieces of Mandela-inspired music; South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen’s Harmonia Ubuntu, a major work for soprano and orchestra, based on Mandela’s words and commissioned by Classical Movements, will premiere July 21st as part of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest in Minneapolis; and in August, Classical Movements brings the Minnesota Orchestra to South Africa for a historic five-city tour, the first major American orchestra to perform in South Africa and featuring collaborations with South African choruses and soloists.
PHOTO: South Cape Children’s Choir, George, SA
