Ofentse Pitse (born 1 July 1992) is a South African conductor and architect. She is the first black South African woman to conduct and own an all-black orchestra, Anchored Sound. [1] She is also the youngest to do so.
Ofentse Pitse (born 1 July 1992) is a South African conductor and architect. She is the first black South African woman to conduct and own an all-black orchestra, Anchored Sound. [1] She is also the youngest to do so.
Dikeledi Ofentse Keorapetse Pitse was born in Mabopane. [1] Her grandfather Otto Pitse was a jazz conductor and trumpet player. She first played an instrument at the age of twelve when an uncle gave her a flugelhorn. She played in the Salvation Army band in Mabopane, [2] though much of her musical education was informal despite having attended the prestigious art school, Pro Arte Alphen Park. [1] Pitse's reason for not taking music as a formal subject in school is because she was denied the opportunity to do so as she did not have a piano at home which was a requirement of the school's music programme.
In 2017, Pitse started a youth choir in Katlehong, hand-picking classically trained young people. [3] Discovering that there was no all-black classical orchestra in the world, Pitse grew the choir into an orchestra. Boosted by established classical musicians, the ensemble grew from 8 to 19 to a 40-piece symphony orchestra. In 2019 Pitse contacted Thami Zungu, head of music at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), and Gerben Grooten, the conductor of the University of Pretoria Philharmonic, who each provided her with mentoring in conducting. [1] By 2021 Anchored Sound consisted of a 45-piece orchestra and 30-member choir, and had tackled music from Sibelius to Vivaldi to Dvořák. Pitse has kept the orchestra practicing though the COVID-19 pandemic, though orchestra members in disadvantaged communities have faced especial technological challenges. [2]
In June 2024, Pitse conducted Redbull Symphonic Orchestra by Kabza De Small held at Johannesburg, Gold Reef City from June 8—9. [4]
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties of the conductor are to interpret the score in a way that reflects the specific indications in that score, set the tempo, ensure correct entries by ensemble members, and "shape" the phrasing where appropriate. Conductors communicate with their musicians primarily through hand gestures, usually with the aid of a baton, and may use other gestures or signals such as facial expression and eye contact. A conductor usually supplements their direction with verbal instructions to their musicians in rehearsal.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a British composer and conductor. Of mixed-race descent, Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white musicians in New York City as the "African Mahler" when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He was particularly known for his three cantatas on the epic 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha by American Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Coleridge-Taylor premiered the first section in 1898, when he was 23. He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers. Their son, Hiawatha, adapted his father's music for a variety of performances. Their daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, became a composer-conductor.
Mass is a musical theatre work composed by Leonard Bernstein with text by Bernstein and additional text and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy, it premiered on September 8, 1971, conducted by Maurice Peress and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The production used costume designs by Frank Thompson. The performance was part of the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Mass premiered in Europe in 1973, with John Mauceri conducting the Yale Symphony Orchestra in Vienna.
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Valerie Coleman is an American composer and flutist as well as the creator of the wind quintet Imani Winds. Coleman is a distinguished artist of the century who was named Performance Today's 2020 Classical Woman of the year and was listed as “one of the Top 35 Women Composers” in the Washington Post. In 2019, Coleman's orchestral work, Umoja, Anthem for Unity, was commissioned and premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Coleman's Umoja is the first classical work by a living African American woman that the Philadelphia Orchestra has performed.
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Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
Margaret Rosezarian Harris was an American musician, conductor, composer, and educator, the first African-American woman to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and 13 other cities' orchestras.
Women are active in all aspects of classical music, such as instrumental performance, vocal performance, orchestral conducting, choral conducting, scholarly research, and contemporary composition. However, proportionately to men, their representation and recognition -especially at higher levels- falls a long way below their numbers.
Karina Canellakis is an American conductor and violinist.
Jessica Bejarano is the founder and conductor of the San Francisco Philharmonic.
Harrison Sheckler is an American classical pianist, composer, actor, and virtual choir conductor.
Joyce Mathis was an American soprano who was a concert artist, recitalist, and opera singer from the 1960s into the early 1990s. She is considered a part of the first generation of black classical singers to achieve success in the United States; breaking down racial barriers within the field of classical music. She won several notable singing competitions, including the Marian Anderson Award in 1967 and the Young Concert Artists in 1968. In 1970 she recorded the role of the High Priestess in Verdi's Aida alongside Leontyne Price and Plácido Domingo. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ned Rorem wrote his song cycle Women's Voices for her in 1975. In 1976 she created the role of Celestina in Roger Ames's opera Amistad at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She appeared frequently in performances with Opera Ebony and the Boys Choir of Harlem in addition to touring widely as a recitalist and concert soprano.
Kabelo Petrus Motha is a South African DJ and record producer, popularly known as Kabza De Small. He is a major figure in the amapiano genre of house music. Aside from his solo career, Motha is a member of the Scorpion Kings. Motha gained international recognition after the release of "Umshove", in 2018.