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Journal Archive.

25 January 2010

We started our year with the annual choir camp the weekend before the start of school, and are hard at work to get our new repertoire under the belt.

31 December 2009

Unbeknownst to most of us, the director of the Würzburger Dommusik in Germany, Martin Berger, and his partner, the beautiful Charlotte, are on holiday in South Africa. As most of us know, the Würzburg Girls Choir has undertaken to sponsor one child, from indigent circumstances, for a period of five years. He made use of the opportunity to hand over the sponsorship money for 2010 to our outgoing treasurer, Henriette.

16 December 2009

Phew, what a way to end a year! The Feathermarket Hall was packed with an estimated 1 500 people during the Feathermarket Organ Society's Christmas Concert. We, as guest artists, received a VERY loud standing ovation! Merry Christmas everybody!

14 December 2009

And so, as we blinked, the year came to an abrupt end. Despite looming year-end exams, the fourth term proved almost as busy as the third! We hosted TWO international choirs simultaneously and had a wonderful concert, despite the threat of citywide power failures and a few other small disasters! We enjoyed getting to know the children from the Südpfalzlerchen Children's Choir (Herxheim, Germany) and look forward to meeting them again in Germany in 2010, whilst we also appreciated being able to return the hospitality of the Ruamjai Youth Choir (Jyväskylä, Finland) . They really impressed us with their high standard.

Inbetween we had our annual auditions, with record turnouts of hopefuls and some really exciting voices, the annual Welcome / Goodbye Concert and also fitted in two Christmas performances, with the third (and last performance of the year) at the Feathermarket this coming Wednesday.

It has been an action-packed year. Our children learnt a lot and we look forward to an even better year in 2010.

7 October 2009

It has certainly been life in the fast lane recently (5 varied performances in one month - phew!) - as good a time as any to take a trip down memory lane. In August 2007, Prof. Martin Berger held workshops with the ECCC over a period of four days, culminating in a concert where he conducted the entire Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten. As far as we could ascertain this was the first performance of the entire work in Port Elizabeth. What made it even more special was the fact that we could do it with the original harp accompaniment. The harp player was kind enough to allow the children to become acquainted with this special instrument. See who you recognise! (thank you for the photo, Mr Van Zyl).

Saturday 12 September 2009

Phew, the past month, and especially the past 10 days, has been SO busy, that we've hardly been able to catch our breaths!

The ECCC started September with a performance in the Feathermarket Hall (something we ALWAYS enjoy) to commemorate the beautiful organ and followed that two days later with our annual Prestige Concert with the EC Youth Choir. Not only was this concert a great success, but we also made history, as it was the first Prestige Concert for our newly formed Eastern Cape junior Children's Choir, who managed to impress all and sundry with their beautiful and clear sounds.

This past Friday evening we surprised the guests at the annual Port Elizabeth Exporters' Club dinner, bringing us to another highlight today.

Duifie Barnard (Nicholas and Christopher de Jager's granny), is an internationally known floral artist and she agreed to do a show in order to raise funds for the ECCC and the Grey Junior Choirs. Through the use of her awesome talents she managed to re-enact The Creation as depicted in the Holy Bible book of Genesis, augmenting the visuals with beautifully rendered prose by Elizma Harmse and the angelic sounds of the ECCC, the ECjCC and the boys from the Grey Junior junior and senior choirs! It was a real soul-food afternoon, enjoyed by every single guest. A big, public THANK YOU to Duifie and her five right hands! Below the birds and animals are arriving.

Thursday 4 June 2009

Gospel Evening at Settlers’ Park Primary

This was the second time this year that the Eastern Cape Children’s and Junior Children’s Choirs were given the opportunity to perform at the same event.

Congratulations to the Junior Choir’s new conductor, Hanlie Young, with a very successful first performance under her competent leadership. Die choristers, dressed in their friendly red T-shirts, really stole the audience’s hearts with their sparkling sounds!

Instrumentalists from both the Junior and Senior choir helped to create a really interesting version of Laudate Dominum, while the young soloists performing in Go tell it on de Mountains contrasted beautifully with the choir’s full sound, ending their performance on a high note!

Thank you also to the senior choristers who, despite their exams, came to deliver of their best. As usual, the choir shone under Lionel’s direction and Liske’s beautiful soprano enchanted the audience as usual! As You’ll never walk alone ended the choir was rewarded with a well-deserved standing ovation from a very appreciative audience!

Congratulations to all who participated. We are proud of you!

(A little bird told me that the Junior Choir will be having a surprise performance very shortly, but unfortunately I’ve been sworn to secrecy!)

Monday 11 April 2009

This past Saturday we took up a longstanding invitation to visit our friends in Patensie. For those who don't know our area, Patensie lies in the heart of the fertile Gamtoos Valley that is widely known for its citrus and vegetable farming. Over the years many children from the Valley have made the weekly trip (about an hour's drive) to Port Elizabeth for choir practice with some of them only getting home after nine in the evening!

Despite some serious problems with the accoustics, we shared a lovely concert with the junior and senior choirs from Laerskool Gamtoosriviervallei on Saturday evening, before going home with our hosts. On Sunday morning we participated in the local Dutch Reformed church's morning service where our voices really soared.

Thank you to the hosts who spoilt us rotten. (I know of quite a number of "naartjies" and avocados that found there way to Port Elizabeth yesterday!)

Thursday 2 April 2009

Who is this? Click here if you know the answer.

Monday 16 March 2009

Now that we've had a bit of time to catch our breath we'd like to say thank you.

Thank you to the choir parents and choristers for your contribution to Friday evening's success: the beautiful performances from both our choirs; the wonderful large audience; parents who assisted with hosting, transport; meals, tuckshop, coffee and tea, ticket sales and much more.

Baie dankie aan koorouers en koorlede vir julle bydrae tot Vrydagaand se sukses: Beide kore se koorlede se pragtige sang; ouers se bywoning; ouers wat huisvesting verskaf het; ouers wat Este help vervoer het; ouers wat Vrydag met die Este se ete, die snoepie, koffie skink, in die kombuis, kaartjieverkope en vele ander dinge gehelp het.

 

Is dit nie PRAGTIG nie??!! Baie dankie aan Erika de Jager en Ouma Duifie Barnard vir die blomme en versiering van die kerk se portaal.

Saturday 14 March 2009

There is only one way to describe our first concert for 2009: Wow, WOW, WOW!

The first years had to overcome their first performance butterflies pretty quickly in front of a packed venue and did themselves proud by performing the four parts of the Rheinberger Mass in A with the characteristic beautiful sound that the ECCC is known for.

The audience was not wanting for variety as we then welcomed the Estonian TV Choir by singing Piret Ripps' beautiful Gloria with them, before handing over the stage to them. They entertained us with a balance of serious and not so serious pieces and impressed us with their beautiful open sound and interesting choreography.

The highlight of the evening was without a doubt the mass items and, in particular, the last two where the Eastern Cape junior Children's Choir  proved to us just how capable younger children are of performing music of a high standard (and they have only been rehearsing for 8 weeks!). Having 160 children on stage touched every heart and by the time we'd finished the Estonian song Üksteist peab hoidma (first sung together by the ECCC and the Estonian TV Choirs in Estonia in 2008) there was hardly a dry eye left in the house!

We very sadly bade our visitors good-bye this morning, hoping that it will not be too long before we meet again.

See our photo gallery as well.

Thursday 5 March 2009

Talk about the year running away with us! Although I've been silent for seven weeks it does not mean that nothing was happening, but first things first. We need to congratulate our choristers who celebrated their birthdays since the beginning of December (yes, I know I've been bad). We wish you all a wonderful year ahead.

December: Jateen, Kendra, Emily and Anette.
January: Emma, Taryn and Nicholas Audley
February: Lynleigh, Jana-Marie, Sisanda, Miencke J and Anine
March: Lauren, Annchen, Cheswin, Sune, Shannon and Jan

While they were busy celebrating their birthdays and eating watermelon to chase away the unbearable heat (see our photo gallery), the committee has been hard at work to prepare for the arrival of our friends from the Estonian TV Children's Choir next week. They spoilt us rotten last year and we are hoping to return the favour! Aren't they lovely?

Thursday 22 January 2009

And here we are. The 2009 camp is something of the past and the first years  have discovered that we don't feed children to the imaginary crocodiles of the Swartkops River! The 2009 choir is fully formed and has already blessed us with a number of beautiful musical moments, while old friendships have been strengthened and a number of new ones formed.

With the schools starting yesterday we also had our first official rehearsal of the first term and while a few took longer than others to find the Teachers' Centre, we are now all officially on the same page!

Saturday 1 November 2008

Although we still have a number of performances left on this year's calendar, we've also come to that time of the year when we (sadly) say goodbye to choristers who will not return for another year of musical moments with the ECCC.

Of course, the coin has two sides and we also gladly welcome the new choristers for 2009. We are sure you will have a wonderful time with us.

November is also not without its birthdays. Congratulations to Ilse-Mari (3rd), Rory (5th) and Paula (14th). May all your dreams come true!

Sunday 26 October 2008

A conductor / composer, 2 soloists, 200 choristers and an orchestra all together on one stage is the recipe for an AWESOME choral experience!

The performance of Peter-Louis van Dijk's Windy City Songs in the Feathermarket Centre this afternoon was something we will all remember for a long time to come!

Friday 10 October 2008

Did you think we came home to rest? WRONG!!!!!!

On Wednesday it was business as usual when rehearsals started on Peter-Louis van Dijk's Windy City Songs that we will be participating in with the ECPO and other choirs on the 26th of  October.

 FRIENDS FROM OVER THE WORLD

Through our beautiful music, the Eastern Cape Children's Choir continues to make friends from all over the world. Click on these links to the websites of some of the choirs with whom we have crossed paths.

Melissa Venema
In July 2009 we shared a concert with this 14-year old trumpet playing "wunderkind" from the Netherlands. Melissa astounded us with her clear sound, perfect intonation and seemingly endless breath! What an inspiration it was for our members to see what hard work and dedication can achieve!

Südpfalzlerchen Children's Choir, Herxheim, Germany
This children's choir is famous for their performance of musicals and provided a thoroughly entertaining performance during the Three Choir Concert (shared between the ECCC, Ruamjai Youth Choir and themselves). We are looking forward to visiting them in September 2010!

Würzburg Cathedral Choirs, Würzburg, Germany 
We first met the chaps from Würzburg when they visited Port Elizabeth in August of 2005, when they also invited us to visit them during our concert tour of 2006. We had two performances in their beautiful city. One in the majestic St Kilian's Dom during Sunday Morning Mass and the second, a full length concert, in the Neumünster Cathedral.

Kinderchor der Stadt Halle, Halle, Germany 
The Halle Children's Choir hosted us in 2002, visited Port Elizabeth in 2005 and invited us back in 2006, when they also arranged our visits to, and concerts at, Liberec and Prague in the Czech Republic, as well as Dresden in Germany.

Over the weekend of the 17th of May 2008, the German visitors graced us again with a visit and wonderful performance. It was wonderful to see old friends meet again and also to hear about new friends made. We hope to see them again soon!

And closer to home:

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