Africa, National Symphony Orchestra South
NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA South Africa is based in Johannesburg, where it continues to enrich life not only in the province Gauteng, but throughout South Africa. It does this by reinforcing its national character with regular tours, giving concerts and workshops as part of its dynamic and innovative Outreach and Development program, and reaching audiences far and wide with its Thursday night symphony concerts, which are broadcast live to the whole of South Africa on SAfm. The NSO has a past it can be proud of. It has developed fine traditions and standards painstakingly built from humble beginnings as a small recording ensemble 75 years ago. Over the years it yhas been conducted by Antal Dorati, Malcolm Sargent, Pierre Boulez, Efrem Kurtz, Louis Fremaux, Louis Lane and Carlo Zecchi – outstanding musicians who lent extraordinary status to NSO concerts and audio recordings. The visit by Igor Stravinsky, in 1962, was a decided highlight; not only his presence, but the fact that he conducted the orchestra in a performance of his own works. Today, the NSO continues to employ an even greater number of professional South African orchestral musicians, and it provides a platform for the airing of works by South African composers, such as James Khumalo, Peter Louis van Dijk, Hendrik Hofmeyer and Thomas Rajna. It promotes the talents of south African soloists such as Prince Langoasa and Sibongile Khumalo, Francois du Toit, Mark Nixon and Pieter Jacobs. The NSO, under the direction of its Musical Director, Richard Cock, is the orchestra which, more than any other in South Africa, has led the way in creating true and meaningful harmony within the cultural life of a Rainbow