Cantare: Children’s voices resonate across SA – and touch Austria

13 Mar Cantare: Children’s voices resonate across SA – and touch Austria

2007: NLDTF three-year grant of R2,8 million

The Cantare Children’s Choir has had a relationship with the NLDTF since 2004. The word, Cantare, means “singing” in Italian. The choir develops new choristers and harnesses singing talent among gifted and includes children from the Ekhuruleni towns of Tokoza, Katlehong and Tembisa.

In 2008, 27 choristers including 15 underprivileged children funded from the NLDTF grant had an experience of a lifetime when they were selected to join the Touring Choir. The highlight was their participation in the World Choir Games in Graz, Austria.

Their visit to Austria and neighbouring Hungary also enabled them to attend a workshop in the chambers of the famous Opera House in Vienna, listen to a real a Viennese Concert, sing in front of the Mozart House and perform in Budapest’s St Stephen’s Cathedral in front of a 500-strong audience that included the South African Ambassador to Hungary.

NLDTF funding also enables Cantare Choir members to travel and hold choir camps, garner new musical and life skills, share the excitement of music with their peers and experience their country in a way that otherwise would not have been possible.