Amabali Ethu!
“Our Stories”
Facilitators
Thato Machona, Faith Zungu, Vongani Beluva & Jill Eichler
Director
Christine Crouse
Musical Director
Roland Perold
Writers
Lulamile Kikani & Liesl Jobson
Composers
Roland Perold &
Michael Blake
Amabali Ethu (meaning Our Stories) was a Cape Town Opera outreach initiative where Roland acted as composer, writer and musical director over a period of two years. This community project reached hundreds of learners in the Western Cape teaching them about working together through opera, music and stage craft.
Roland was the Composer in Residence at Cape Town Opera working as part of the Outreach writing team that travels to Vredenburg on the West Coast of South Africa. Roland facilitated workshops, alongside dramaturges Mandla Mbothwe and Lulamile Nikani, to create original musical stage works with learners from schools in the area. Other creatives included Liesl Jobson and Michael Blake. The team was led by renowned opera director Christine Crouse.
The holistic approach to creation of new work involved using stories from the learners and their community (“Amabali Ethu” – Our Stories) and moulding this into a coherent dramatic work. The learners gain insight into the world of theatre and what it means to work together to get a production on its feet.
Roland was also musical director for condensed versions of “The Magic Flute”, opera by Mozart. The productions featured professional singers from Cape Town Opera Studio in the lead parts and learners from various schools in the chorus.
There was also a choral conductor training course developed by Liezl-Maret Jacobs, Christine Crouse and Roland Perold. Roland implemented this course, training adult choral conductors in the Western Cape.
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