bundesjugendorchester

South Africa 2010 - with the BuJazzO in the land of contrasts

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 60th anniversary of the Basic Law gave the young musicians of the Bundesjazzorchester and the National Youth Orchestra reason to go on a guest performance and encounter tour to South Africa in the summer of 2009. Performing music of the "Third Stream", the union of jazz and classical music, the two national youth orchestras celebrated with this cooperation the opening for something new and the emergence of a third stream quite consciously in connection with Germany's unification and as a symbol for the cross-border power of music in the cultural run-up to the 2010 World Cup. Support for the project was provided by the South African partner MIAGI ("Music is a great investment"), whose focus is on musical work with children from all social milieus in South Africa.

Apart from representative concerts in large cities and business centres, the focus of the tour was on getting to know local musicians and South African culture. Consequently, workshops and concerts with young musicians from both countries took place in various cities. And the German musicians spent one day in the black district of Soweto, which is located on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Almost 120 German musicians visited the Moris Isiacson School, one of the schools supported by MIAGI. Currently, the first music centre in the area is being built here with a small concert hall and practice rooms. "This is the first time that white musicians have visited us, I am so excited," says a young girl in school uniform - and it didn't take long for the approximately 300 young people to sit and stand together, mixed in groups. Besides conversations between the students and musicians that quickly developed, a five-piece jazz ensemble and a cello quintet, among others, performed from the ranks of the BJO and the BuJazzO. The South African students danced enthusiastically to the music and spontaneously decided to perform as well: Five young men sang two African songs and thrilled everyone. Afterwards, there was more dancing and singing of simple traditional songs in front of the auditorium gates.

Representative concerts were given by the German musicians in cities such as Johannesburg/Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Port Elisabeth and Cape Town. After the concerts, the musicians regularly attended receptions hosted by the German Embassy or the Goethe Institutes. In discussions with local representatives from business, culture and politics, the musicians were able to contribute their musical experiences and thus gain a well-rounded picture of the country, which was previously unknown to most of them.

The programme included original compositions for two orchestras. Over 120 participants, jazz musicians and classical musicians, presented themselves together on stage. George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" is probably the most famous example of the strong influence of jazz on classical music, here still in the guise of a symphony orchestra. Composers who followed him then had both complete orchestras perform on stage together, combining two largely separate and independently developing musical genres. Conductor for the concerts in South Africa was Bernd Ruf, who is one of the leading musical personalities in the field of Classical Crossover. The soloist for the "Rhapsody in blue" was Caspar Frantz, born in 1980 and a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, among others. 

An intensive phase of work in Germany took place in preparation for the concert tour, and the Kleist Forum in the European city of Frankfurt an der Oder was chosen as the rehearsal venue. The concerts in South Africa were preceded by a tour of Germany conducted by Dennis Russell Davies with concerts in Berlin, Bonn and Stuttgart.

Concerts

Berlin | 23. August | Konzerthaus
Bonn | 25. August | Museumsplatz
Stuttgart | 26. August | Liederhalle
Pretoria | 30. August | State Theatre
Johannesburg | 31. August | Lindner Auditorium
Bloemfontein | 2. September | Sand du Plessis Theatre
Port Elisabeth | 4. September | Feathermarket Hall
Cape Town | 6. September | City Hall

Participants

National Jazz Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra
Concerts Germany: Dennis Russell Davies | Piano und Conducter
Concerts South Africa: Caspar Frantz | Klavier, Bernd Ruf | Conducter

Linie danach
Berlin Philharmoniker Bundesministerium Wdr3 Daimler DOV GVL Freude.