An elated Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu received a rousing standing ovation on Saturday, 13 July, when he made a rare public appearance in a symphony concert at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (SICMF).
The audience in the packed Endler Hall of Stellenbosch University's Konservatorium jumped to their feet after the esteemed Nobel Peace Prize winner performed as narrator in the South African composer Péter Louis van Dijk's The Selfish Giant.
Tutu has retired from public appearances but has made an exception for the SICMF because the festival celebrates its 10th year.
The SICMF, the biggest festival of its kind in Africa, started on Friday 5 July and came to a close on Sunday 14 July. Besides concerts and public master classes by renowned international and South Africa musicians, the festival also presented lectures and coaching sessions to more than 300 students from across South Africa.
Saturday was the festival's concert highlight when Tutu performed in The Selfish Giant, a symphonic work with a children's choir, two solo singers and a narrator.
The Festival Concert Orchestra and the popular Tygerberg Children's Choir (trained by Hennie Loock) played under the baton of Russian conductor Daniel Raiskin. With them performed the boy soprano Juan Visser and baritone Patrick Tikolo.
Tutu narrated the story, based on an Oscar Wilde short story, of a selfish giant who forbade children to play in his beautiful garden, but who soon had a change of heart.
The audience reacted with a standing ovation for Tutu and the other musicians. After the performance, Tutu spent some time in the Endler foyer posing for photographs and chatting to some of the musicians.
During a rehearsal earlier on Saturday, Tutu praised the Tygerberg Children's Choir, saying: "You sing really beautifully; you sing like angels."
About 'The Selfish Giant'
The Selfish Giant, composed by Péter Louis Van Dijk in 1986, is based on a short story with the same name by the legendary Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). It tells of children who play in a giant's garden while he is away. When he returns after years, he chases them away but his garden is locked into a permanent winter. The children eventually find their way back to the garden and with them come spring and summer. But in the corner of the garden it was still winter with a sad boy standing under a tree.
The boy disappears and years later he returns with wounds in his hands and feet. Shocked, the giant asks the boy what had happened and why he had come back. The boy answered: "You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise". That afternoon the other children found the giant dead under the tree.
*Caption
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu performs on stage in Stellenbosch University’s Endler Hall in a concert for the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival. Daniel Raiskin conducted the Festival Concert Orchestra. Photo: IRENE KIM
