THE Mandela University’s Music Department is proud to present Wading Home, an Opera of New Orleans, performed by students from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Nelson Mandela University’s Choral Ensemble and the Eastern Cape Children’s Choir, at the South Campus Auditorium on May 30.
Wading Home is a short (split one act) opera about the story of one New Orleans family’s struggle to reunite both spiritually and physically after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
It is based on a novel by Dallas-based writer Rosalyn Story. Her novel, called Wading Home,a Novel of New Orleans, was published in September 2010, and grew, in part, from her personal experience as a musician and her time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans after Katrina.
A distinguished professor of music and voice at Southern Methodist University, Prof Barbara Hill Moore, producer and music director said almost three years ago they premiered this new opera, Wading Home, with performances in New Orleans and Dallas, commemorating the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, to wide critical acclaim.
“Considering all the very sad issues with water throughout South Africa. I decided this would be the ideal time for the Wading Home theme of overcoming the wrath of nature through community spirit, determination, working together and faith.
“We have so much in common with our struggles with the damage and death involved with dealing with too much water and yours of dealing with not enough water,” she said.
Entrance for this production is free and the event starts at 19:00.
Free-will donations will benefit the Eastern Cape Children’s Choir and the Bruce Foote Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which assists South African students in voice study at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
For more info contact Nicky Bosman on 041 504 4235.
