BLOEMFONTEIN – The Odeion School of Music (OSM) in Bloemfontein is a hive of activity with live performance by about 70 clarinet teachers and musicians at the Clarinet Extravaganza.
Danré Strydom, founder of the festive and educational extravaganza, says the festival’s aim includes exposure to the latest international developments in clarinet performance, pedagogy, and repertoire, as well as the promotion of inclusivity in music education. The festival will started on Wednesday, 4 and will end on Saturday, 7 February.
In addition to the masterclasses and performances, participants are expected to find the information sessions on clarinet equipment, reeds, mouthpieces and instruments particularly valuable.
Strydom, African Chair of the International Clarinet Association and associate professor at the Odeion School of Music (OSM) in Bloemfontein, presented the first extravaganza in 2016, followed by editions in 2020 and 2024.
Thanks to this event, the first classical concerts of the music year are presented at the Odeion. Three of five concerts are free of charge – the opening concert and two lunchtime concerts on 5 and 6 February at 12:00.
The opening concert on Thursday 5 February, Echoes of Elegance, is free. The musicians performing are Chrisna Smith and Morné van Heerden from Gauteng; Severine Sierens from Belgium; Brooks Thon from Japan; Bence Szepesi from Hungary; Vincenzo Casale from Italy; as well as Strydom.
Pianist Cézarre Strydom will accompany them.
Works performed include Mendelssohn’s Concertpiece No. 2 in D minor, Op. 114 for two clarinets; Poulenc’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano; “Perpetuum Mobile” by Kovacs/Strauss; Gade’s Four Fantasy Pieces, Op. 43; and After You, Mr Gershwin.
At the Clarinet Soirée at the Brandkop Estate will have performances by the Odeion String Quartet together with the visiting international musicians. Szepesi opens the programme with Reicha’s Clarinet Quintet in B-flat major, Op. 89. Casale follows with Mozart’s Clarinet Quartet, K. 79.
Thon will be heard in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, and Sierens performs Landscapes VII by her compatriot, Belgian composer Wilfried Westerlinck.
Members of the renowned Odeion Quartet are violinists Samantha Durrant and Sharon de Kock, violist Jeanne-Louise Moolman, and cellist Anmari van der Westhuizen will play at a dinner concert on.
Tickets are available on quicket.co.za and cost R250, which include dinner. The soirée will start at 18:00.
The Gala Concert on 7 February will be a clarinet choir of more than 60 players in the first movement of Beethoven’s ever-popular Symphony No. 5 in C minor. They are coached by Belgian master Eddy Vanoosthuyse, who will conduct the gala concert. The programme is as follows: Vincenzo Casale performs movements 2 and 3 of Vanderhagen’s Concerto No. 3; Severine Sierens and Danré Strydom form a duo for Benoit’s Luim; Brooks Thon performs Weber’s Concertino in E-flat major, Op. 26; Sierens tackles Vanderhagen’s Rondo with Variations; and Bence Szepesi brings the concert and week to a rousing close with Verano Porteño (Summer) from Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
The concert will start at 19:00, in the Odeion Auditorium on the main campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). Book via quicket.co.za at R60.
