Minister Nathi Mthethwa was meant to unveil his latest big-bank arts and culture project on Thursday, the national philharmonic orchestra, but, for some reason, this never came to be.
What is the national philharmonic orchestra?
Bizarrely, details on the national orchestra project are hard to find.
However, as reported by the Daily Maverick, rumblings of frustration were heard in South Africa’s classical music corridors of a report noting the establishment of an R30 million project to establish a national orchestra.
The funds, it’s believed, were going to be injected into training up a large group of musicians to represent the nation, and while in theory, the idea was noble, practically, it made little sense to build a national orchestra from scratch when South Africa has an abundance of philharmonic groups.
Alas, Mthethwa’s latest vanity project was, according to the report, an effort to recruit the “cream of South African musicians who have earned a reputation for excellence and innovation in their fields.”
Headed by opera veteran and chief executive of orchestra organisations in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Bongani Tembe, the national philharmonic orchestra’s sole purpose would be to perform at grandiose events throughout the year.
“In order to be sustainable, the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra needs to be central to a national talent recruiting, refining and retaining system; the highest level of a multitiered developmental process for young South Africans, of which the regional orchestras remain a critical element,” the report noted.
Why was Nathi Mthethwa’s R30m orchestra not announced?
Mthethwa’s latest vanity project was meant to be unveiled at a press conference on Thursday. However, for reasons not explicitly communicated by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, the R30 million national philharmonic orchestra announcement never materialised.
Speculation remains rife, but it’s believed Mthethwa may have, yet again, ran off into hiding following the scathing backlash from orchestra organisations, the general public and political parties.
Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Louis Heyneman likened the project to ‘orchestra capture’ “where all the decisions about musical performance, transformation and training will be dominated by a few.”
“It has been constituted without any formal discussions or consultation with the professional orchestral musicians, arts managers and music educators in South Africa,” Heyneman claimed.
Other orchestra organisations criticised the arts and culture minister for failing to address funding shortages for upskilling programmes that already exist in this sector of music.
The national philharmonic orchestra is reportedly scheduled to host its first concert event on Wednesday, 27 July 2022. It remains unclear if the event will actually take place.
Mthethwa’s orchestra blunder follows three months after his dodgy R22 million national flag project that garnered this reaction from President Cyril Ramaphosa.