When the Free State Symphony Orchestra company (the FSSO) launched its Symphony for Life campaign in 2016, its ambition was to create a sustainable financial basis for its music-educational pipeline and its culmination, the Free State symphony orchestra. Providing high-quality mentoring opportunities for a new generation of young musicians was and is key to this initiative.
An integral part of the dream has been to have live opera in Bloemfontein and the Free State once again. For several decades one felt the sadness of hearing exceptional young singers who never had an opportunity to participate in a live opera performance – being limited to singing standalone arias without being able to express their creativity as part of a larger musical drama.
With exquisite timing, the Odeion School of Music (OSM) simultaneously launched its initiative to grow its singing component and start staging operettas and operas with its students. This laudable step presented a wonderful opportunity for an FSSO-OSM opera partnership that combines professional singers, singing students and a professional pit orchestra, thereby also broadening the mentorship of student members of the orchestra.
The other winner is opera lovers, who can look forward to regular opera seasons in future, as long as sufficient funding for opera can be secured. We invite, and urge, audience members to become partners in this endeavour.
Prof. Frederick Fourie
Chairperson: FSSO Board
Chairperson: FSSO Board
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