Pro Musica Productions

Pro Musica Productions (formerly the Roodepoort City Opera Company)

Pro Musica Productions is a performing arts production company operating from the Pro Musica Theatre (formerly known as the Roodepoort City Theatre) in Roodepoort serving Gauteng but also the surrounding provinces since 1981.

Pro Musica Productions was managed by Weiss Doubell, erstwhile acting CEO, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor.

Pro Musica Productions houses:

• the Pro Musica Opera Company
• the Pro Musica Orchestra
• the Pro Musica String Quartet
• the Pro Musica Opera Chorus
• a Vocal Tuition Scheme
• an Instrumental Tuition Scheme

The main focus areas for this company can be divided into three sectors: opera and lyric arts; instrumental and orchestral music; and community development.

The Pro Musica Productions Company has long involved itself in outreach projects. Known as the centre where potential singers and instrumentalists could launch their professional careers, it has been investing in the talents of all South Africans since its opening in 1981. The company has long established relationships with the Johannesburg Bach Choir, Mohlakeng Methodist Church Choir in Randfontein, St Bernard the Martyr in Atteridgeville, Johannesburg Philharmonic Choir and Pretoria Oratorio Chorus. Recent new associations have been with the Dobsonville Brass Band, Dobsonville Chorale, the Musica Mundo Choir, the Dobsonville Arts Association and the brilliant Soweto based chorus Imilonji KaNtu.

The Pro Musica Opera Company

The first production company of the Theatre, the Pro Musica Opera Company, has for the last twenty six years gained the reputation as the only South African institution that has consistently given young South African artists the opportunity to make professional operatic debuts. With over 400 operatic performances (over 66 productions) completed during the past 26 years, its has proven that opera is not necessarily an expensive and elitist art form and that it is relevant to all sectors of the community. Artists like Angelina Thabane (1982) the first black soprano to make a professional operatic debut in South Africa, now making a succesful career in Britain; Johan Botha (1989) now making a world career; Estelle Kruger (1994) and Sally du Randt now in Germany; Hanli Stapela, to name but a few, all made their debuts on the Pro Musica stage in opera. Regular guests in the productions include Sibongile Khumalo, Sidwill Hartmann, Jannie Moolman and Virginia Davids. Up to date (January 2007) a total of 71 South African singers have had their professional debuts on the Pro Musica stage. Of these, 44 are still involved in professional careers as singers, chorus masters and academics, and of these 44 there are 17 making professional careers in the UK, in Europe and in the USA.

The Pro Musica Orchestra

The second artistic body attached to the Theatre is the resident orchestra, the Pro Musica Orchestra which celebrates its 23rd birthday this year. This orchestra, under the baton of Principal Conductor Weiss Doubell has proven to the public over the past 23 years that artistic standard needs not be compromised even though many of the musicians are talented but inexperienced players needing development and training. Exposure to the standard orchestral repertoire equipped many to take their places in fulltime orchestras in our country. Indeed, many South African instrumental soloists today have emerged from the Pro Musica Orchestra’s ranks and make careers here and abroad. The orchestra has performed and completed more than 500 symphonic concerts all over Southern Africa, and in 1992, when UNESCO lifted the 26-year old cultural boycott on South Africa, it was invited by UNESCO to tour France, with the main concert of the tour performed in the Great Hall of UNESCO in Paris, internationally televised by ITV and attended by heads of state, the corps diplomatique and many other dignitaries. The Orchestra has performed in hundreds of performances of opera, oratorio and in concert all over South Africa. More recently the Pro Musica Orchestra performed at a gala event hosted by the Mayor of Johannesburg in honour of ex-president Nelson Mandela who donated his law library to the New Constitutional Court as part of the Celebration of 10 years of Democracy directly preceding another event – an Opera Gala co-produced with the Royal Norwegian National Opera in the Johannesburg City Hall to celebrate 10 years of democracy in South Africa and 100 years of independence in Norway. These events were attended by international and local judges, corps diplomatique and other important guests.

The Pro Musica Opera Chorus

The Pro Musica Opera Chorus was founded in 1996. Since 1996 the Chorus has performed in all the operas and works with chorus produced and staged by Pro Musica Productions, with recent successes such as Verdi’s Requiem, Un Ballo In Maschera, Rigoletto, Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, Faure’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Tosca as well as Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, La Bohème by Puccini, Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass and Mozart’s Requiem. The chorus draws its talent from the rich choral tradition in our country and uses voices which cross all racial and social lines and represent our rainbow nation.

The Vocal Tuition Scheme

The vocal tuition scheme accommodates talented singers who are tutored in music theory, music appreciation and history as well as theatre practice and theory.

The Instrumental Tuition Scheme

As part of its outreach project and equity plan Pro Musica Productions has an instrumental tuition scheme which was started in 1994 to facilitate the development of instrumental performance in disadvantaged communities. The Pro Musica Orchestra’s principal musicians teach promising students from these communities including string and wind musicians, who do not have the means or access to proper training. The programme currently involves promising pupils who are being equipped with the basic skills to master their instruments and some day to become tutors themselves. This way they could turn their talents into means to earn an income in future through professional or amateur musical ensembles and thereby reducing physical but also spiritual and cultural poverty. The interest from musicians brought about the realisation that fostering and development of this talent is of utmost importance as it helps in developing a South African character, it empowers the previously disadvantaged and it helps to create the perception of "World Culture" amongst the black population.

Sources

Pro Musica Productions, 2007.

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