EOAN Group - Revision history

Darryl: /* Productions */

2026-04-29T14:39:13Z

Productions

Darryl: /* Recognition/Legacy */

2026-01-30T16:04:36Z

Recognition/Legacy

Darryl: /* Recognition */

2025-12-17T06:36:04Z

Recognition

Darryl: /* Sources */

2025-07-29T08:56:26Z

Sources

Darryl: /* Song and Opera */

2025-07-29T08:56:15Z

Song and Opera

Darryl: /* New leadership */

2025-07-02T08:27:03Z

New leadership

Darryl: /* The EOAN Group Cultural Centre and the Joseph Stone Auditorium */

2025-07-02T08:10:39Z

The EOAN Group Cultural Centre and the Joseph Stone Auditorium

Darryl: /* Song and Opera */

2025-07-02T08:07:56Z

Song and Opera

Darryl: /* Dance and Ballet */

2025-07-02T08:02:31Z

Dance and Ballet

Darryl: /* Dance and Ballet */

2025-07-02T08:01:59Z

Dance and Ballet

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:39, 29 April 2026
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	==Productions==		==Productions==
		+
		+	1944: ''[[Tobias and the Angel]]''

	1946: ''[[The Redeemer]]'' (a concert performed with organ and 100 singers)		1946: ''[[The Redeemer]]'' (a concert performed with organ and 100 singers)

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 ===Recognition/Legacy===
-In 2004,  [[Vera Gow]] received a National Order Award (the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver) from the South African government for her excellent contribution to the development of arts and culture in South Africa and sterling performance in the field of operatic music. In 2005, [[May Abrahamse]] and [[Johaar Mosaval]] each received a gold Molteno medal from the Tricentenary Foundation for their life contribution to arts and culture, and in 2007, [[May Abrahamse]] was awarded a Kanna from the [[Klein Karoo National Arts Festival]] for her life contribution to arts and culture.
+In 2004,  [[Vera Gow]] received a National Order Award (the [[Order of Ikhamanga]] in Silver) from the South African government for her excellent contribution to the development of arts and culture in South Africa and sterling performance in the field of operatic music. In 2005, [[May Abrahamse]] and [[Johaar Mosaval]] each received a gold Molteno medal from the Tricentenary Foundation for their life contribution to arts and culture, and in 2007, [[May Abrahamse]] was awarded a Kanna from the [[Klein Karoo National Arts Festival]] for her life contribution to arts and culture.
 In 2013, the film ''[[An Inconsolable Memory]]'' was released. This is [[Aryan Kaganof]]'s 2013 documentary on The [[EOAN Group]] Book Project, an initiative to collect the forgotten history of a set of "[[coloured]]" performers from Cape Town's [[District Six]] who performed Italian opera to mixed audiences during and after apartheid.

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 In 1980, both [[Ronald Theys]] and [[Sidwill Hartman]] joined the opera choir of the [[Cape Performing Arts Board]] as the first Coloured singers for this (till then) completely White institution. In 1985, [[Gordon Jephtas]] worked on Broadway in New York. He accompanied Hartman, who at the time studied at the Julliard School of Music.
-===Recognition===
+===Recognition/Legacy===
 In 2004,  [[Vera Gow]] received a National Order Award (the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver) from the South African government for her excellent contribution to the development of arts and culture in South Africa and sterling performance in the field of operatic music. In 2005, [[May Abrahamse]] and [[Johaar Mosaval]] each received a gold Molteno medal from the Tricentenary Foundation for their life contribution to arts and culture, and in 2007, [[May Abrahamse]] was awarded a Kanna from the [[Klein Karoo National Arts Festival]] for her life contribution to arts and culture.
 ==Productions==

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:56, 29 July 2025
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	Denis-Constant Martin. 2013. Sounding the Cape Music, Identity and Politics in South Africa. African Minds.		Denis-Constant Martin. 2013. Sounding the Cape Music, Identity and Politics in South Africa. African Minds.
		+
		+	https://www.litnet.co.za/the-eoan-group-and-bringing-the-story-to-life/

	== Return to ==		== Return to ==

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 ===Song and Opera===
-In 1940, the brothers John and Dan Ulster started a choir for the group. At the invitation of [[Helen Southern-Holt]], [[Joseph Salvatore Manca]] joined the Music Section as choral conductor in 1943. Manca developed the small choir into an amateur opera company.
+In 1940, the brothers John and Dan Ulster started a choir for the group. At the invitation of [[Helen Southern-Holt]], [[Joseph Salvatore Manca]] joined the Music Section as choral conductor in 1943. Manca developed the small choir into an amateur opera company. The majority of the EOAN singers were untrained and could not read music. They did not receive professional pay and rehearsals and performances took place in the evenings or over weekends.
 The EOAN Group put on their first complete operetta, ''[[A Slave in Araby]]'' in the Cape Town City Hall in 1949. The EOAN Group presented their first full-scale opera in 1956. This production was followed by annual opera seasons, arts festivals and tours locally and abroad. Their repertoire included works such as Giuseppe Verdi’s ''[[Rigoletto]]'' and ''[[La Traviata]]'', Pietro Mascagni’s ''[[Cavalleria Rusticana]]'', Georges Bizet’s ''[[Carmen]]'', Giacomo Puccini’s ''[[La Boheme]]'' as well as ''[[Il trovatore]]'', ''[[Die Fledermaus]]'', ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'', ''[[L’elisir d’amore]]'' and ''[[Il barbiere di Siviglia]]''. For all the opera productions, the [[Cape Town Municipal Orchestra]] was hired.

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 [[Veronica Allan]] was appointed the new chairlady. The ballet dancer [[Dick Jaffer]] was appointed as new Wardrobe Master.
 [[Gordon Jephtas]] as hired as artistic director for the group in 1979, but he left within the year. During his short tenure as Artistic Director of EOAN, Jephtas appointed former EOAN ballet dancer [[Peter Voges]] as his assistant. After a year, at the end of 1980, Voges also resigned. Another EOAN stalwart, [[Alessandro Rota]], long-time voice trainer and producer, also retired at this time.
 ==Apartheid==

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 After the destruction of District Six, the EOAN Group moved to their new premises in Athlone, The [[EOAN Group Cultural Centre]], now known as the [[Joseph Stone Auditorium]], named after its benefactor who donated R100 000 towards the building of the theatre. The [[EOAN Group Trust]] became the official owner of the Eoan Group Cultural Centre. The venue, comprising the Jospeh Stone Auditorium, various practise rooms, studios and offices, was inaugurated on 21 November 1969.
-The move to Athlone also removed the EOAN Group from the hub of Cape Town’s cultural life. Due to a combination of political repression, the renovation of the City Hall where they continued presenting their annual opera seasons and financial difficulties, producing opera became increasingly difficult for EOAN in the 1970s.
+The move to Athlone also removed the EOAN Group from the hub of Cape Town’s cultural life. Due to a combination of political repression, the renovation of the City Hall where they had continued presenting their annual opera seasons and financial difficulties, producing opera became increasingly difficult for EOAN in the 1970s.  When the City Hall was renovated, the new building could no longer accommodate opera performances, so performances were transferred to the [[Green and Sea Point City Hall]].
 ===International Festival of Youth Orchestras and Performing Arts===

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 During 1961 EOAN’s music section started using premises on the third floor in Delta House in Bree Street, Cape Town as rehearsal and office space. In accordance with the Group Areas Act of 1957, EOAN, as a Coloured organization, had to apply for a permit to use this space in a White area. The permit was granted on 24 April 1961 and the EOAN Music section used these premises until 1969 when they moved to the [[Joseph Stone Auditorium]] in Athlone.
-There was a close cooperation between the [[EOAN Group]] and the [[University of Cape Town Opera Company]], with involvement form the university's [[Gregorio Fiasconaro]], [[Stephen de Villiers]] (from the university’s Art Department) and [[Stanley Glasser]].
+There was a close cooperation between the EOAN Group and the [[University of Cape Town Opera Company]], with involvement form the university's [[Gregorio Fiasconaro]], [[Stephen de Villiers]] (from the university’s Art Department) and [[Stanley Glasser]].
 In 1975, the EOAN Group performed its last opera , Verdi’s ''[[La traviata]]''. After Manca’s resignation in 1977, the demise of the EOAN Opera Group was evident.

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 ===Dance and Ballet===
-Already in the first decade of its existence the group started performing in public venues in Cape Town. In 1935, she was joined by her daughter, Maisie, a trained ballet dancer, who started dancing classes. Gifted dancers soon emerged from the EOAN Group and performed with the [[Cape Town Municipal Orchestra]] in the first Coloured Dance Display in 1937. The following year, a first group of dancers trained by EOAN took part in the Royal Academy of Dance Examination.
+Already in the first decade of its existence the group started performing in public venues in Cape Town. In 1935, Southern-Holt was joined by her daughter, Maisie, a trained ballet dancer, who started dancing classes. Gifted dancers soon emerged from the EOAN Group and performed with the [[Cape Town Municipal Orchestra]] in the first Coloured Dance Display in 1937. The following year, a first group of dancers trained by EOAN took part in the Royal Academy of Dance Examination.
 By 1940 a thousand children from fifteen EOAN branches took part in an open-air Physical Education Display which included dancing. From this year onwards, the ballet section annually performed with the [[Cape Town Municipal Orchestra]].