About Johannesburg Opera
About johannesburg "jozi" opera
Johannesburg Opera is looking to bring exciting opera singing and great theatre performances to our audiences with the slogan “a song for you”. This performing arts and entertainment company, focussing on opera related productions, concerts, and events, will nurture talented individuals for quality vocal performances and all-round theatre artists. Johannesburg Opera will focus on development programmes for young people in rural and disadvantaged communities. Johannesburg Opera will strive to challenge the conventions of art and not be confined to the traditional operatic repertoire. Their inspiration encompasses all genres that ignite their passion.
Johannesburg Opera was founded by Phenye Modiane with a mission to keep opera alive in Gauteng. Mr. Modiane is the Managing Director of Johannesburg Opera and is probably more known as an opera singer. He has performed in various operas, worked with different orchestras, conductors, concert producers, and event companies.
Johannesburg Opera is looking to transform the art of opera and we are driven to creating the opportunities to feed the hunger for great performances to our stakeholders. Johannesburg Opera aims to expose opera to varied audiences from different generations and communities. Johannesburg Opera is driven by excellent vocal performance, presentation, and theatre.
Johannesburg Opera supports education and the development of South African singers. Johannesburg Opera is looking forward to creating an academy that will offer talented young singers, with no formal training and from previously disadvantaged communities, the opportunity to develop their singing ability and to gain performance experience through the academy.
The students will receive training in general opera disciplines including vocal and presentation techniques through regular interaction with lecturers. The students will also be offered an opportunity to sing in ensembles for Johannesburg Opera in concerts and other live performances, and minor or small roles in future opera productions.
Johannesburg Opera will take opera to the rural and disadvantaged communities and schools that do not have access to live opera performances to inspire young people. We aim to discover and nurture the voices of naturally talented singers from both Gauteng and the rest of South Africa. Most importantly it is a vehicle to discover, develop new talent, mould them to produce quality vocal performances, and create theatre practitioners that can proudly and excellently epitomize the rich artistic talent that South Africa possesses. This way, we will also be creating an audience for the future and spreading the joy of opera.
Johannesburg Opera intends to work with world-class Performers, Designers, Conductors, and Directors as appointed and selected by the company. Local performers are sourced from a wide selection of singers who are of the standard required by Johannesburg Opera and come from all provinces of South Africa.
We aim to establish working relationships with corporate companies, institutions, and individuals that support and are practitioners of music and theatre.
Johannesburg Opera will be looking to form relationships with performing arts institutions from across the broad spectrum in Johannesburg, Gauteng, and South Africa. Forming these collaborations will then allow us to be able to expand our reach not only to opera lovers but to all genres as much as possible. We will also be looking at opportunities for future collaborations with national and international opera companies
What we're about
Mission
- To keep opera alive in Gauteng.
- To produce concerts regularly.
- To create work opportunities for artists of Johannesburg Opera.
- To ensure sustainable financial well-being through fundraising.
- To create sustainable youth programmes in rural and underprivileged communities.
- To build relationships with artists and artisans of the South African theatre environment.
vision
- We aim to produce regular performances for the artists of Johannesburg Opera.
- We aim to provide opera and theatre training to young talented individuals through the Johannesburg Opera Academy.
- We aim to educate rural and disadvantaged communities about opera and theatre through community opera talks educational programmes.
- We aim to collaborate with local composers to bring South African stories to life through opera.
- We aim to collaborate with national and international vocal coaches to help Johannesburg Opera artists.
- We aim to produce full-scale opera productions and concerts for the community of Johannesburg and South Africa at large, by staging these around Johannesburg.
"People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul."
—J. F. Lawton
