Classical music website celebrates second birthday

To date, www.classicsa.co.za has published over 100 weekly Focus On features, engaging a broad selection of South Africa's top classical musicians, such as tenor Johan Botha, conductor Gerard Korsten and répétiteur Brenda Rein, as well as talented young South African musicians breaking into the international classical music circuit, such as soprano Pretty Yende, baritone Njabulo Madlala, pianists Ben Schoeman and James Baillieu. This column also offers the opportunity to pay tribute to those who have made vast contributions to the South African classical music industry, including Mimi Coertze, Nellie du Toit, Emma Renzi, Marian Lewin, Thomas Rajna, and Barry Smith.

In the daily News and Reviews column, the website keeps its pulse on news in the industry - current competitions, awards, achievements, auditions and important happenings.

Comprehensive diary of concerts and events

With nearly 6000 concerts and events listed over the past two years, music lovers from all over the world can benefit from the What's On calendar, which offers a comprehensive diary of which concerts and events take place around South Africa on a daily basis.

The extensive directory on the site offers all classical music practitioners in South Africa the opportunity to advertise their services, which, in turn, allows the website's users to engage directly with musicians, teachers, music shops, piano tuners, and so on.

The site's newsletter subscribers have the opportunity to win prizes each month. They could be tickets to some of the top concerts in the country or season tickets to symphony orchestra seasons. Additionally, Classicsa Page on Facebook provides a forum for friends of the website to share their views on published features, as well as photo albums capturing music lovers seen at concerts and events.

Aims to make classical music more accessible

Founder Louis Fouche said that apart from providing a centralised platform for classical music and its many different components, the aim of www.classicsa.co.za is, ultimately, to make classical music more accessible to a much broader community, specifically younger and emerging audiences.

"Contrary to general perception, the classical music industry in South Africa is extremely vibrant and of great social importance, and we want to reflect this on the site with a fresh approach. The key to the sustainability of classical music in our country, therefore, is to inform, communicate and to create dialogue in order to work towards a new support base," he said.

For more information, go to www.classicsa.co.za or contact az.oc.ascissalc@ofni.