EastCape Opera Company

EastCape Opera Company (ECOC) is an independent South African opera company established in 1995 by Gwyneth Lloyd.

Also sometimes written as East Cape Opera Company.

History

EastCape Opera Company (ECOC) was founded in 1995 as Co-opera Ibali Lomculo to serve the aspirations of opera singers in the Eastern Cape after students from Rhodes University asked Gwyneth Lloyd to train them in opera. The company grew to produce four critically acclaimed original operas based on the historical themes and music of the Eastern Cape, including the first Xhosa opera Temba and Seliba in 1996.

The company took on the name EastCape Opera Company and, as the only opera organization in the province with access to professional practitioners, has provided much needed access to arts and culture in the Eastern Cape in the form of local productions for previously disadvantaged communities and also creates an environment where singers develop important skills to become professionals in their own right.

The opera company performs opera recitals, a cappella ensembles and full scale productions. Invariably this includes performances at the Starways Rose Theatre on its annual tours throughout the Eastern Cape, and has even travelled to The Netherlands. The Company is the source of new and exciting Xhosa operas and music dramas, which highlight the fascinating history of the Eastern Cape.

Alumni

Singers who have been trained by ECOC programs have gone on to enjoy international professional careers overseas in the United States and Europe. These singers include Luthando Qave (Metropolitan Opera, New York), Golda Schultz (Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich), Andile Kosi (Global tour of U-Carmen eKhayelitsha). Some have won or been finalists in prestigious international singing competitions such as the Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition, Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition in Vienna some have won the Washington National Opera and The Houston Grand Opera Prize. They represent the new era of South African opera singers who come from a rich pool of local Eastern Cape vocal talent that ECOC nurtures and develops to professional and international standard.

Productions

2002: Black Easter

2007: The Magic Flute

2008: The Mikado

2016: The Moon Prince

Sources

https://eastcapeopera.com

Hleze Kunju. 2013. A Critical and Intercultural Analysis of Selected isiXhosa Operas in the East Cape Opera Company's Repetory. Unpublished Masters Thesis. Rhodes University.

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