A Musical Meeting

We had a musical meeting with Shirley Apthorp last week, who told the club about her Umculo project of bringing music to the people through her contacts as a music journalist in Germany.
     She has a colourful life, having been born in South Africa (the family comes from Cape Town) but brought up in Australia.
     She now lives and works from Berlin in Germany as a music critic and journalist for mainly British newspapers, chiefly The Financial Times.

President Carol Stier with Shirley Apthorp

     Shirley founded Umculo (a Xhosa word that means both art music and reconciliation according to their website) 10 years ago. She was inspired by the work of El Systema who do similar work with teaching music in Venezuela. She realised that through choir networks in schools and community organisations in South Africa, there are literally hundreds of thousands children open to the positive influence of music.
     She decided to use her extensive contacts in the music world in Europe to work in collaboration with Umculo to help children advance their music talents or, as she put it, changing lives through music.

The flyer for the production of Passion

     The big news she spoke about was their upcoming production of Passion, a staged version of Bach's St John's Passion.
     This massive production will be staged over the weekend (Friday and Saturday evening at 7.30 pm) and Sunday at 3.30 pm at the Meadowlands Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Soweto.
     Shirley told the club that the production is bigger than Ben Hur! No fewer than 8 community choirs are taking part with an orchestra playing on original baroque instruments all under the baton of the German conductor Felix Bender and produced by a South African, Kobie van Rensburg.

The poster for the production

     Attendance is free, but obviously donations are very welcome.
     In true Rotary style, although he is not (yet!) a Rotarian, Carl Chemaly, who was at the meeting, has roped his wife, Jacquie Myburgh, in to help publicise the concert series. Jacquie is editor of the very glossy Tiso publication Wanted (there's also an online version) and has an extensive network of contacts in the arts field.
     Carl also undertook to help find a solution to the problem of arranging transport for 45 kids from the East Rand to rehearsals and the shows. Carl has asked club members for any contacts he can use to make this possible. It's a very worthy cause, folks!

Mike MacDonald and Paul Kasango welcome David Furniss to the meeting

     Carl wasn't the only visitor at the meeting as David Furniss also joined us. David is the son of Frayne Mathijs and lectures in biology at the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand.
     According to his mother he is a brilliant lecturer and David indicated that he'd happily come and speak at one of our meetings. Who knows, we might even snag him as a member.

Peter Vale

     The speaker this week also promises to be interesting. He is the political scientist Peter Vale, founding director of the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg.
     Peter will be telling us about the work of the JIAS.
     Save the Date: The invitation for Linda's induction has been attached to the blog email going out to club members. It is one of the highlights of the year so please pass it on to anybody you feel would like to attend. It is more expensive than in previous years because it is being held at the Parkview Golf Club and not at Twickenham Guest House, as we felt the club needed a bit of a change in scenery.
     There will be two complimentary bottles of wine on each table and a cash bar for those who want to make use of it.
     The details are as follows
     Date: Friday, 29th June 2018
     Time: 6.30 for 7pm
     Venue: Parkview Golf Club, car and Wicklow Ave, Parkview, Johannesburg
     Cost: R350 per person. Banking details are on the invitation
     Dress: Smart casual
     RSVP: By 21st June to Mike Vink, mike@aucklandlodge.co.za or 083 448 2554
     A Thought for the Week: I dream of painting and then I paint my dream. - Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)