The Conservatory is abuzz with the excitement of more than 60 first-year diploma and degree students eagerly finding their way to classes, lessons, and rehearsals — the largest ever class of first-year students to start their academic year at the School of Music.
The director of the School of Music, Prof Conroy Cupido, says that accommodating such a large first-year group is no easy feat since half of the Conservatory building is closed for renovations! But the staff of the School of Music rallied together to make this extraordinary class feel at home in Potchefstroom.
These wide-eyed new music students hail from all over the country (only the Northern Cape province is not represented), showing that NWU School of Music is an institution of choice for music study in South Africa. The largest proportion are singers — both classical and CCM in roughly equal measure — but there are enough performers on woodwind, brass and string instruments, as well as pianists and choral conductors, to ensure a healthy balance. For the first time, a large cohort of students will be specialising in the uhadi, a traditional Xhosa stringed instrument, showing the School of Music’s commitment to the study and development of indigenous music.
The annual First Years’ Concert is scheduled for Thursday 8 May, 09:15 in the Organ Hall at the Conservatory, and we look forward to see and hear the talents that this group of new music students brings.
(Not all first-year students were present for the group photograph above.)
