Sir Roger Norrington tours South Africa in January 2013
Sir Roger Norrington, a leading light on the classical music scene for almost 50 years, will conduct the Zurich Chamber Orchestra with celebrated South African clarinetist Robert Pickup as soloist in Johannesburg and Cape Town in January 2013. In a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity selected members of the South African National Youth Orchestra will join them on their tour.
Sir Roger is an expert in historically informed orchestral playing, in which he seeks to put modern players in touch with the historical style of the music they are performing. He has built up a reputation with this approach, his breakthrough coming with London Classical Players in the 1980s. He is a frequent guest with many of the world’s major orchestras – the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, the Deutsche Symphonie, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Concertgebouw Orkest, l’Orchestre de Paris, the NHK in Tokyo, and the Philharmonia in London. In the United States he has appeared over many years with the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cincinnati and Detroit Symphonies, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
He is now principal conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, one of the leading ensembles of its kind. Regular invitations to international festivals, performances in the major musical centres of Europe all, extended concert tours through various European countries as well as the United States and China, bear witness to the Zurich Chamber Orchestra’s worldwide reputation. Numerous critically acclaimed CDs document the ensemble’s artistic work.Besides cultivating a broad repertoire ranging from baroque to classical and from romantic to contemporary music, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra not only frequently attracts attention by rediscovering forgotten composers, but also by collaborating with musicians from other genres such as jazz, folk music and popular entertainment.
Over close on half a century the South African National Youth Orchestra has hosted courses, concerts and tours that have changed the lives of scores of our young musicians, many of whom have excelled as performers and teachers in South Africa and abroad. Last year, at the culmination of the Sasol National Youth Orchestra Course in Johannesburg, the NYO performed Benjamin Britten’sYoung Person’s Guide to the Orchestra with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu as narrator. At that concert, the Archbishop said: “This just lifts your spirits. At a time when we seem to be pulling in different directions in our country, this is such a wonderful statement: young people of all races, playing in an orchestra, which itself is a symbol because it has different instruments. It is a wonderful image for our country.”
Each year Sasol sponsors orchestra courses that attract top-quality musicians from across the country. This year the National Youth Orchestra Foundation has two programmes to apply for: a symphony orchestra course in June in Johannesburg, and an advanced strings course and wind band course in December in Cape Town. Auditions for all programmes will be held in February, and applications can be made online at their website www.sanyo.org.za or by sending an SMS to 083 272 2117 with the applicant’s name, location and instrument. Musicians wishing to apply should be between the ages of 13 and 25 and play an orchestral instrument at at least Grade 6 music level. Selected members of the South African National Youth Orchestra (SA NYO) from 2012 will perform alongside the Zurich Chamber Orchestra on their tour.
