Boston ChoirFest 2024

ABOUT

Enjoy a musical evening of choral singing in the heart of the Northern Suburbs.

Choirs you can look forward to experience include:

DF Malan High School Choirs

Durbanville High School Choir

Black Moses Art Choir

Cape Town Camerata (formerly Cape Town Youth Choir)

And special guests from the USA:

New Hampshire Friendship Chorus

Date: Sunday 14 July

Time: 17:00 (Doors open 16:15)

Venue: Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium

With musical entertainment provided by BO Productions.

Ticket includes a complimentary coffee

Refreshments provided by local coffee shop Kruis Koffie.

The New Hampshire Friendship Chorus was created to share a love of music and to build bridges of international understanding. Our tours are a careful blend of appreciation for cross-cultural friendship and travel. It seeks to promote open and broad participation as well as the goodwill of anyone supporting our mission. Our slogan, 'Sharing Music and Making Friends Around the World,' perhaps says it best.

Dan Perkins is Professor Emeritus of Music at Plymouth State University, where he was professor of music and director of choral activities for 29 years and the first Stevens-Bristow Distinguished Professor. Perkins is active as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States and abroad. He is co-founder and music director of the New Hampshire Master Chorale and Chamber Orchestra, and music director of the Manchester Choral Society and Orchestra and the NH Friendship Chorus.?

Past positions include principal guest conductor and director of choral activities for the New Hampshire Music Festival, guest conductor of the Asia Pacific Activities Conference Orchestra in Hanoi, Vietnam, principal guest conductor of the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet in Hanoi, music director of the Hanover Chamber Orchestra and New England Camerata, associate conductor of the Savonlinna Opera Festival Chorus, and associate conductor of the Finnish Chamber Choir. He was a faculty member at the Bassi Brugnatelli International Conducting and Singing Symposium in Robbiate, Italy. He has conducted for Mid-America Productions and the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall.?

His choirs have performed and studied in Spain, England, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Poland, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, Morocco, Vietnam, South Korea, South Africa, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Canada, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Iceland, Puerto Rico and throughout the United States. ?

Major works conducted in recent seasons include Durufle Requiem, Bloch Sacred Service, Bernstein Mass, Bach Mass in B minor, Sibelius Pohjola's Daughter, Pärt Te Deum, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Haydn's Seasons, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Leonard Bernstein's MASS, and Mozart Mass in C minor. With the New Hampshire Master Chorale, Perkins has commissioned and premiered over 30 works, most recently Windshear by Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, Voices of the Silenced by Kim Andre Arneson, and Night Migrations and Worth the Wait by Oliver Caplan.?

Perkins is an active freelance collaborative pianist and music director/pianist for the chamber ensemble Trio Veritas.?

Perkins holds the degrees Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music in Choral Music from the University of Southern California, and Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Brigham Young University. He continued his studies as a Fulbright scholar in Helsinki, Finland.

The Cape Town Camerata, previously Cape Town Youth Choir, aims to provide an opportunity for young South Africans to sing in a choir of the highest international standards while delivering a moving musical experience to its audiences. 

Leon Starker has been the conductor since 2003 While they focus on a cappella music they have also performed major works such as the Rachmaninov Vespers, Händel’s Messiah (broadcast on national television in 2018), Arvo Pärt’s Passio (St John Passion) and Karl Jenkins’ Armed Man a Mass for Peace. They have recorded numerous CDs.

The choir has traveled the world where they presented concerts in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and the Mozarteum Großer Saal in Salzburg. They have participated in various international competitions, winning gold and most recently winning the prize for the best performance of a contemporary work at the International Chamber Choir Competition in Spittal an der Drau, Austria (2019) and placing second in the mixed voice category of the 2022 edition of the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir competition.

The DF Choir has 140 dynamic choir members, more than 10% of the school body! The choir participated in the Tygerberg Eisteddfod and ATKV Applous in 2022 and 2023, and was privileged to reach the final rounds of both competitions. The school has had a very rich choral culture over the years and it is great to see that it is never lost. At DF we are in the business of Academic Excellence, but it is safe to say that Choral Excellence is a high priority as well!

The DF Chamber Choir consists of 27 talented singers, who also form part of DF Choir. This group of singers love music so much, they are willing to spend twice as much time on ensemble singing. Our repertoire includes genres from Pop & Jazz to Classical & African music. This group of musicians participated in the Tygerberg Eisteddfod for the first time and received a Cum Laude for the past two years. Working with such a talented and dedicated chamber choir is any conductor's dream. The conductor is Jade Paige.

The Durbanville High School Choir, under the direction of Maria Viviers, has become a beacon of musical excellence, achieving numerous accolades and captivating audiences with their harmonious sound. With Maria's guidance, the choir has won local eisteddfods and secured second place nationally at the prestigious ATKV Applous competition. For over a decade, Maria has nurtured the choir, fostering a culture of teamwork, creativity, and musical passion. Through their performances, the choir has brought joy and pride to the school community, and their success is a testament to Maria's dedication and expertise.

The Black Moses Art Organization, under the direction of Sfiso Sotobe, provides young people from Khayelitsha an opportunity to train as actors, singers, poets, dancers and presenters. This choir aims to provide "only the best" quality to its audiences.

Babette & Olga - a multi-faceted female duo that can play more than 5 instruments combined! These ladies offer a dynamic variety of ensemble options ranging from accordion, piano and percussion, piano and flute to accordion/piano and bass guitar. They regularly perform at weddings and corporate functions playing well-known classical music, pop, gypsy jazz and French café music.

?Olga Leonard completed her Masters’ degree in Performing Arts at the University of Pretoria majoring in piano, flute and voice. She received her UNISA Performers Licenciate cum laude and has won various accolades for her playing. Not only is she a professional player but she is also a competent arranger/composer. She is a regular performer at all the major arts festivals including KKNK, Aardklop and Woordfees. Olga stays in Cape Town working as a full time musician: teaching, accompanying, performing and composing. 

Babette Viljoen is a versatile and highly skilled musician playing multiple instruments: piano, violin, organ, accordion and bass guitar. Babette is also an accomplished composer having won first prize at the ATKV Crescendo Song Writing competition in 2011. In the same year her cabaret, “Anderkant Nêrens se Mense”, was also chosen to form part of the Aardklop Festival programme. As a performer she has shared the stage with local musicians such as Hemelbesem, Lize Beekman, Anton Goosen, Sonja Herholdt, Jak de Priester and Kalahari Connections. Babette is a regular performer at weddings and art festivals, and currently lives in Cape Town. She is co-director of the production company BO PRODUKSIES PTY LTD.

What is a choir fest without some delicious snacks and a hot cup of coffee?

Since the first Boston ChoirFest, audience members were able to enjoy savoury delights as well as something for the sweet tooth, provided by Kruis Koffie Boston . 

You may recognize this local coffee shop from the hit kykNET TV series, “In Die Sop”, where they received a makeover from chef Bertus Basson and Misi Overturf Creative . Since then the local community has flocked to this Boston gem!

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