SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN ANNIVERSARY ORATORIOS
It’s a major anniversary year for the nation and several artistic outfits are beginning to roll out works to help keep up the celebratory mood.
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), which will mark its own 50th anniversary in two years time, will be off the blocks on January 25 when it partners with British conductor, Roy Wilks and Hungarian Master Violinist, Peter Kovats to perform excerpts from three oratorios at the British Council Hall in Accra.
There will be repeat shows at the Great Hall, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi on January 27 and at OLAM Hall in Tema on January 28.
An oratorio is a semi-dramatic work dramatic work for orchestra and voices and usually on a sacred theme. The excerpts for the three shows are from George Handel’s Messiah, Joseph Haydyn’s The Creation and Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
“These are all biblical stories set to music. We hear our preachers tell those stories in church and on the radios all the time. They really come alive when you hear them performed on stage,” said Mrs. Theresa Tetteh, Director of the NSO in an interview with Showbiz in her office last Monday.
“I urge the public to come and see the show so they can appreciate what they are already familiar with from a different perspective.”
For the Accra and Tema shows, the NSO and the visiting musicians will appear with the Greater Accra Catholic Choirs Association and the Calvary Methodist Church Youth Choir. The KNUSTand the Pax Romana choirs will be part of the Kumasi programme.
The upcoming shows will be the fourth collaboration between the NSO and the two European musicians who have been paying their own way to Ghana each time for the performances. According to Mrs. Tetteh, her outfit has benefited a lot from partnering visiting musicians.
“We don’t have the resources to do all the things we want to so we greatly value the goodwill from outside. Lack of experienced conductors somehow slowed us down in the past but we now have two of our members trained by visiting conductors. That has made the orchestra more comfortable and much more competent to satisfy our audience.”
The NSO was started in 1959 by the late Philip Gbeho at the instigation of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It has been known for infusing African instruments with the traditional Western orchestral instruments and for its vulnerability in handling a wide variety of music.
Apart from national assignments, the orchestra which is a resident group of the National Theatre, also honours private invitations.
*Source:
Graphic Showbiz - 18-24 January 2007. Page 6.
|