Outreach and Education
The Cape Philharmonic Orchestra’s Outreach and Education programme was started in 2003 as part of the orchestra’s Transformation Plan. The CPO’s teaching programme and schools outreach concerts started in 2003 and the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (CPYO) and Cape Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble (CPYWE) were launched in 2004. This programme has expanded over the years to include:
CPO Music Academy:
The CPO music academy started 2012 with a formal registration day on the 14th of January.
The academy has 11 ad hoc teachers and 16 CPO members that teach every Saturday. Brandon Phillips also run a conductors class every Saturday with 13 CPYO members being trained for the Len van Zyl competition in 2013. Laurika Steenkamp teaches all the different levels of theory. Each learner has a group class for their level. The Van Loggrenberg Theory books are partly sponsored All Music.
Currently this Academy is working at full capacity with each teacher teaching 6 – 8 learners. We have requests daily for new members that want to join. Each term is concluded with a concert.
Masidlale Music Project:
In 2009, the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra started the Masidlale Music Project in the townships of Gugulethu and Nyanga to provide children with instrumental training in their area – irrespective of financial means or background. The projected has grown to include 4 satelites:
1. Hlengisa Secondary School (Nyanga)
http://plak.co.za/moreinfo.php?id=21548
Tembisa Ntshongontshi is the Violin Teacher and Project Manager at Hlengisa Secondary assisted and trained by our project manager Maria Botha. Thembisa (28) who started as a violinist in the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra a few years ago.
Tembisa was born in the Transkei in the Eastern Cape in 1985 and moved to Khayelitsha, Cape Town, in 1986. She attended Lwandle Primary and Luhlaza High school, where she matriculated.
Her life had a sad twist in that she was a victim of crime at a young age, but she has changed her life around despite this bad experience.
Tembisa was introduced to the violin in 1997 through the MTN Music Project in Kuils River under the direction of Mr Ronnie Samaai, where she received group tuition. When she successfully auditioned for the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in 2003, she had achieved Grade 2 level. Although still involved with the MTN Music Project, Tembisa started one-on-one violin tuition with Michele Williams, the principal second violinist of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. Under Michele’s guidance, Tembisa has worked very hard and started showing her full potential and is currently at Grade 6 level and has graduated from the second violin to first violin position in the CPYO.
After matriculating, Tembisa worked at Edgars clothing store in order to support her family, but in 2009 her dream became a reality through the CPO’s community satellite teaching centres. Tembisa gave a day’s notice from Edgars to pursue her dream of becoming a trainee-teacher in the Suzuki method of violin education in the townships of Nyanga and Gugulethu. Here she teaches 40 students between the ages of 6 and 10 years to play the violin. Tembisa participated in her first Suzuki Teaching Method training course in Johannesburg in December 2009 which was sponsored by the CPO study grant. She is still receiving in-service training and will be participating in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Festival in July 2012.
Tembisa is very proud of what she has achieved. She is not bitter about her past, but motivated to improve the lives of the young talented violinists in Nyanga and Gugulethu.
Tembisa is living proof of the healing power of music to overcome the most horrid of experiences!
2. Sonwabo Primary School (Gugulethu)
http://plak.co.za/moreinfo.php?id=21524
Noluvuyo Nteta is the Violin Teacher and Project Manager at Hlengisa Secondary assisted and trained by our project manager Maria Botha. Noluvuyo started violin in 1999 with Kathy Garrity as part of the Ifidyoli Strings at Beau Soleil Music Centre. In 2008 she became a member of the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and has since been trained by the CPO in a skills transfer program to teach violin on the Suzuki Method. She has already qualified for the Level 1 Suzuki teaching and will be completing her next level in 2013. She will part of the Stellenbosch International Chamber Festival in 2012 and receive training from the best musicians in the country. Noluvuyo plays in the Cape Philharmonic Youth String Ensemble that regularly perform at corporate functions and concerts. She currently is co-leader of the CPYO and receives practical lessons from Michele Williams (CPO member).
3. Siyabulela Primary (Langa)
https://plak.co.za/moreinfo.php?id=21838
Siyathemba Nteta is the Violin Teacher and Project Manager at Siyabulelo Primary. Siyathemba started violin in 1999 with his sister under Kathy Garrity as part of the Ifidyoli Strings at Beau Soleil Music Centre. In 2008 he became a member of the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and has since been trained by the CPO in a skills transfer program to teach violin on the Suzuki Method. Siyathemba have completed his Susuki Level 1 Course in December 2012. He is co-leader of the second violin section in the CPYO and plays in the Cape Philharmonic Youth String Ensemble.
Initially he wanted to became a soloist but soon found his calling as a violin teacher. He is a true role model to his students and is loved and respected by them all. He receives violin lessons from Camilla Driver (CPO member).
4. Atlantis
The Atlantis string project is managed by Shaheema Lackay that qualified with Suzuki level 1 in December 2012. The Cape Philharmonic has partnered with the Orion Foundation in Atlantis as they are well established within the community. Priscilla Cloete (Orion) was instrumental in the logistics of setting up this project. http://www.orion-friendship.org/
Interest had to be created before the start of the project. This was achieved by the CPO giving a free public concert in Atlantis.
The concert, that forms part of the CPO Schools Outreach and Education Program, was well attended and the locals still talk about the visit. Many had the opportunity to see a Philharmonic Orchestra perform for the very first time. The children was introduced to the orchestra by the Cool Classic Kidz twins Milan and Lilo. Two of the local children even got the opportunity to conduct the orchestra!

Laurika Steenkamp (Outreach and Education Manager) introduces the different instruments of the orchestra
Our Masidlale Team:
The team consists of:
Laurika Steenkamp – Outreach and Education Manager at the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra
Maria Botha – Suzuki Specialist
Noluvuyo Nteta – Sonwabo Primary
Siyathemba Nteta – Siyabulale Primary
Tembisa Ntshongontshi – Hlengisa Secondary
Shaheema Lakay – Atlantis
Working within an outreach environment is difficult but very rewarding. To keep the projects momentum it is important to build a very strong team that can support each other in all facets. The team has a weekly meeting to discuss logistics and training and meet termly for a team building session under the leadership of Laurika Steenkamp.
Maria Botha – Suzuki Specialist
For the past three years Maria Botha has been teaching and leading the Masidlale Project. She trains all the CPO emloyed violin teachers in the Suzuki method. Examinations and training courses are presented by SUZUKI SA.
On working in the township : “It was hard initially to get parents to support what we were doing and encourage their children,” Botha says. .
The Masidlale Music Project teaches about 120 pupils ages 5 to 12. Botha trained in Lyon, France, where she followed the Suzuki method of learning. She employs the same method in the township schools.
“It doesn’t really matter what instrument they learn. What is important is to learn the self-discipline and love for an instrument… Because of historical reasons, there aren’t enough black [classical] musicians, so we hope this will start to change that.”
Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (CPYO)
Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (CPYO)
The Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra was launched in 2004 as part of the CPO’s development and transformation plan. Most of the members of the CPYO come from previously disadvantaged communities. The Orchestra now have 55 members that rehearse every Saturday in Cape Town. The members of the professional orchestra are committed to a programme of teaching and training the young musicians through regular workshops, orchestra rehearsals and one-on-one tuition.
The CPYO regularly performs a curtain raiser for the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra as well as perform side-by-side concerts. They also form part of the Orchestra’s Summer Festival to which they drew a capacity audience at the Artscape Theatre in February in 2012.
Brandon Phillips (winner of the first Len van Zyl Conductors competition) has been appointed as their Artistic Director and Conductor in March 2012. Recent performances include the Stellenbosch International Chamber Festival, Hugo Hambrecht’s Music Centre Orchestra Festival, Mercedes Benz SA Fashion Week, Iziko Museum Youth Day Celebrations and the opening of the International congress of the HPCA at the Cape Town Convention Centre. The orchestra performed with many well-known soloists in the music industry including Loyiso Bala, Zwai Bala, Ivan Siegelaar, Neville D, Magdaleen Minaar and the Soweto Gospel Choir. A DVD of their performance at the “Great Hymns of Faith” concert with Loyiso, Ivan and Neville D has been produced by well-known composer Bruce Retief that arranged all the music for this production. Bruce Retief (Annie Awards Nominated in 2013 for his music to the movie Zambezia) is composing a piece especially for the orchestra’s tour in 2013.
This year the orchestra members will have the honour to be coached by members of the world-renowned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in March. Gala performances this year includes the opening of the World Paediatric Congress at CTICC, the Fleur du Cap Awards at Artscape, two concerts in Collaboration with Artscape (Woman’s Week, Africa Day), a Heritage Day concert at the V&A Waterfront and a tour in September to Johannesburg Youth orchestra and the Limpopo Youth orchestra. The aim of this tour is to symbolically unite the Youth orchestras in South Africa to eventually share resources, conductors and sheet music.
Currently the orchestra is working with the reggae band “Trenton and the Free Radicals” on a video recording of their song, Mr Mandela. This will be the first time that reggae and a classical orchestra work together on a production in South Africa. It is in honour of Nelson Mandela who paved the way for a united country. This orchestra most certainly represents our nation. All the members agree – “we are a family, not just an orchestra”.
PLEASE LISTEN: http://youtu.be/0HUlxYgvBJc
Brandon Phillips (the winner of the first Len van Zyl Conductors’ Competition) has been appointed as their Artistic Director and Resident Conductor in March 2012. This year alone they will be performing at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Festival, Hugo Hambrecht’s Music Centre Orchestra Festival, Izeko Museum Youth Day Celebrations and the opening of the International congress of the HPCA at the Cape Town Convention Centre.
Cape Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble (CPYWE)
The Cape Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble made their debut before a local audience on 1 May 2004 and has become a well-established group participating in many concerts with the CPO but also performing on their own.
The CPYWE is privileged to have Sean Kierman, the retired head of Brass (UCT) as its conductor. Sean Kierman started the wind band movement in South Africa in the 1960’s and brings a vast amount of experience to this programme.
Some of the CPYWE’s highlight performances in the past years have included participation in the Artscape Wind Band Festival and their international debut at the First Cape Town International Summer Music Festival. They have recently performed at the Waterfront and were part of the Greyton/Genadendal Classics for All Festival where they also presented a workshop to the local children of the Overberg. In May 2012 they participated in the Windworx Fanfare in Cape Town and was awarded a Diploma (90% and higher) for their performance. They will be performing their first curtain raiser for the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra.
Contact details for CPO Outreach and Education:
Laurika Steenkamp
Outreach and Education Manager
Tel +27 21 410 9982
Fax +27 21 425 1009
P O Box 4040, Cape Town 800