As COVID-19 continues to affect our nation and our personal lives, Stellenbosch University’s Music Department remains determined to give our students the best training and performing opportunities even at this difficult time. The Stellenbosch University Symphony Orchestra has been divided into smaller groups: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion ensembles, to allow for greater safety and social distancing on stage. The first of these ensembles to perform in this semester’s Endler Concert Series is the SU String Ensemble conducted by Jacobus de Jager.

We open the concert with Mozart’s Divertimento K136 which was composed around the time of Mozart’s sixteenth birthday. The Divertimento is a delightful, youthful piece with exuberant energy and a lyrical slow movement. Also on the programme are Kara Karayev’s Three Miniatures – the Soviet Azerbaijani composer, and one of Dmitry Shostakovich’s most notable pupils. Karajev infused his native Azerbaijani folk melodies and harmonies into his distinctive soundscape in an eclectic range of genres. The three miniatures – Aysha, Dance, and Lullaby, are extracted from his ballets The Seven Beauties and In the Path of Thunder, the latter a statement about forbidden inter-racial love during apartheid South Africa. We end the concert with one of South Africa’s most prominent composers, Hans Roosenschoon’s Clouds Clearing. Described by Barrie Hudson of the Evening Express, “Clouds Clearing expresses the joy of South Africa’s new democracy in a way that no political speech ever could”. And in the current context of the looming cloud of a global pandemic, a most fitting piece of music signalling the light at the end of the Covid tunnel.

Please keep in mind that for all live events current restrictions allow for 100 audience members in the Endler Hall and all safety protocols outlined by the University will be strictly followed. The safety of our students, staff and patrons is our first priority.

The concert will take place on Friday 23 April at 7pm. Tickets for R60 (regular) and R40 (pensioners and students) are available now through Computicket and at the door one hour before the show. We will not have any cash on the premises. Credit card facilities and SnapScan payments will be possible. For more information contact Fiona Grayer at concerts@sun.ac.za or 021 808 2358.