Category: GSO in South Africa

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight…… As the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra returned to Bakgatla Resort on the Pilansburg Game Reserve following its final South African concert on January 30, the stars were brilliant. The resort is, to be polite, a bit removed from the bright city lights of Johannesburg. The moon had…

“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” F. Scott Fitzgerald Arguably every country has its heroes. Children grow up learning the names and deeds of their nation’s heroes. In Johannesburg this morning, the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra learned something of the South African heroes who changed the course of a nation and are…

The sun rose once again over Table Mountain in a cloudless sky as the Gustavus Symphony prepared for its final hours in Cape Town on Day Six in South Africa. The city and its people have been warm, gracious and accommodating, and we know that we will miss our new friends and, especially our two…

Two emotion-packed, exhausting and exhilarating days in Cape Town marked the end of the Gustavus Symphony’s time in the city. The events of yesterday in Nyanga and Guguletu are fresh on the minds of the members of the ensemble as the day began, once again, bright and cloudless. Friday morning was spent at Robben Island,…

Saint Francis taught us that “it is in giving that we receive.” Service is one of Gustavus’ core values and, for many individuals and groups on the campus, service is a part of daily life. For the Gustavus Symphony, Day Four opened with an journey to two of Cape Town’s once segregated townships, Nyanga and…

Photographer Anders Björling is traveling with the Gustavus Symphony as part of the Friends of Music Companion Tour in South Africa. ‘Nuff said.

The simple things in life. A bright and nearly cloudless morning greeted the Gustavus Symphony in Cape Town on Day Two or our concert tour to South Africa. “Nearly” cloudless as the veil of clouds that has shrouded Table Mountain since our arrival remained. “No worry,” our new friends told us, “in South Africa, we…

Be open to the unexpected. At a time when space travel has become so commonplace that we seldom notice, when objects we have created are venturing past the edges of our solar system or peering into the outer reaches of the known universe, when we can imagine a “long time ago in a galaxy far,…

With the first significant snowfall of the winter coating the campus with a blanket of fresh snow, the Gustavus Symphony is just 24 hours from departure for its concert tour in South Africa. Now, at the end of nearly 40 hours of intense rehearsal, regular sectionals and personal practice, 7 guest speakers (including Dan Currell…

(From the Minnesota Private College Council Newsletter, January 2012) Don’t call this South Africa tour a “trip” For Ruth Lin, the conductor of the Gustavus Adolphus College symphony orchestra, taking nearly 60 student musicians to South Africa is a valuable educational experience — and one that shouldn’t be confused with a vacation. “This is so…