Preparations for the e’Bosch Schools Choir Festival 2022 got off to a good start this month with a masterclass for school music teachers under the deft hand of choral music veteran and conductor John Frans, the newly appointed school choir coordinator.
The masterclass presented at Stellenbosch University’s Endler Music Conservatorium was attended by some 30 music teachers from the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek districts. It was centred on the mechanics of working with choirs, such as warm-up routines, approaches to conducting and how to choose repertoires.
“My mission with the e’Bosch School Choir Festival this year is to inspire a renewed affection for choral music and singing,” says John Frans, a prolific contributor to the development of musical talent in local communities.
Spending a significant part of his youth honing his craft as a pianist, organist and conductor, Frans is truly a veteran in the world of choral music and has served music well in a variety of capacities. His commitment to creating opportunities for communities to engage in choral music led to the formation of the St Luke’s Chorale choir in 2013.
He has produced, conducted and curated several concerts over a period of 52 years with notable performances of excerpts from, Handel’s Messiah, Faure´ Requiem, and Bach’s Christ Lag in Todes Banden with an orchestra. He has also produced live jazz programmes featuring the highly acclaimed late musicians Tony Schilder and Zayn Adam.
The e’Bosch Schools Choir Festival, presented in 2012 for the first time, has grown into one of the flagship events of the e’Bosch Heritage Project. Every year, up to 1 000 learners from some 30 secondary and primary schools in the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek districts get together in a festival of song to celebrate their cultural diversity and strengthen social cohesion.
Frans and his team plan several development masterclasses during July and August in the build-up to the e’Bosch School Choir Festival, which takes place on 23-24 September.
