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Professor Bjorhei: ‘North meets South’

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Professor Arne Bjorhei
Professor Arne Bjorhei

On Sunday 15 October Nelson Mandela Bay is in for a ‘feast of sound’. ‘North meets South’: a concert celebrating the adjunct professorship of Arne Bjorhei to Nelson Mandela University will be hosted at Greenwood Primary School. Professor Bjorhei was recently appointed as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Music at Nelson Mandela University. In his role as adjunct professor he is involved in various aspects of teaching and learning, performance and community engagement at Nelson Mandela University.

Professor Bjorhei has been visiting Nelson Mandela Bay since 2010 performing and working with community musicians and leaders; as well as with staff and students from the university. He has worked on projects involving culture and music across Nordic countries, Europe, South America and Asia over the last four decades. Over the last decade his work has focused more on working towards social transformation creating opportunities for community-based music initiatives in low income communities in Guatemala and more recently in Nelson Mandela Bay. Qualifying students from these programmes are afforded study and performance opportunities abroad.

To celebrate his new position he will be conducting the Nelson Mandela University Wind Symphony in a programme of diverse musical sounds. From the beautiful and melodious ‘Second Suite for Band’ by Holst, to the infectious african and latin american dance rhythms of Marquez’ ‘Danzon No. 2’ and, the slavic folk melodies and gypsy inspired ‘Puszta’ by dutch composer Van Der Roost. These are but some of the sounds that awaits concertgoers and he comments, “I wish we had more time, but besides that there is something that is beautiful, something that is fun, something that has a soloist, we have nearly everything!”

The soloist for the concert is Kyle Du Preez, trombonist and brass teacher at Greenwood Primary School. Kyle will be performing the Trombone Concerto by Rimsky Korsakov with the Wind Symphony. Kyle together with Jackie Barnardo and Devon van Rooyen will also be conducting the Greenwood Primary School Wind Band in the first part of the concert. They will be adding to the feast of sound by performing music from the hit movie ‘The Jungle Book’, the soulful sixties, Mango Groove and Eleanor Rigby. Bjorhei is excited about the Greenwood performance and looks forward to again having the opportunity to listen to them as he is accustomed to the high level of performance they consistently produce.

Concert details:

  • Sunday, 15 October, Greenwood Primary School Hall (Park Drive) at 15h00
  • Tickets: R 70 (adults), R 50 (pensioners and students), Scholars FREE
  • Contact: Gareth on 079 246 8199
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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.