The Centre for the Less Good Idea is an interdisciplinary incubator space for the arts based in Maboneng, Johannesburg

 THE OPEN MOMENT | THINKING IN SPRING

“In the 1700s, when Vivaldi was working on The Four Seasons, what kind of music was being composed in Africa?” – Sbusiso Shozi

On Friday 6 June 2025, The Centre for the Less Good Idea presented The Open Moment | Thinking in Spring, a public showing of some of the key findings and creative methodologies developed during a week-long workshop towards Selemo. 

Selemo (Spring in Sesotho) is a collaborative musical project conceptualised and composed by Sbusiso Shozi and Nhlanhla Mahlangu, with musical mentorship from Neo Muyanga.

Produced and commissioned by Komische Oper and Neuköllner Oper in Berlin, Germany, and nurtured at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, South Africa, Selemo embarks on a profound exploration of Spring – a season of renewal, transition, and emergence within a Southern African context. Premiering in Berlin on February 12, 2026, the production unfolds as an intricate dialogue between baroque echoes and Southern African rites of passage.

In June 2025, Shozi and Mahlangu were joined by a team of performers from South Africa and Germany for a week of workshops at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg. These musicians – Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala, Pertunia Msani, Bvahangwele Moopo, Tshegofatso Khunwane, Gregory Mabusela, Alma Sadé, Tuyêt Pham, Deniz Tahberer, Julia Lindner, Arnulf Ballhorn, Magdalena Bogner, and Matthias Kamps – also worked closely with Wits Creative Writing’s Stacy Hardy to develop the libretto.

Over the course of the workshop, artists explored the concept of Spring musically, spiritually, physically and culturally. Exercises in free-writing, call-and-response, and free-spirited, collaborative play generated much of the early material for Selemo. Mahlangu also cites the closing composition of African Exodus – another collaboration between himself and Shozi – as an instructional one in that it laid the groundwork for their exploration in merging a Western choral tradition with an African choral tradition – of Gregorian chants with African voices and rhythms.    

While Shozi works from a place of African history, composition, and cosmology, Mahlangu’s process engages the body as a site of memory and composition. Together, they facilitate a process where each musician shares their somatic, musical response to the idea of Spring, and a series of vignettes emerges. 

The Open Moment | Thinking in Spring emerged from this context and served as an opportunity for an audience to witness the research, experimentation, and collaborative processes that took place between the artists during the five-day workshop, as well as the outcomes thereof. 

– David Mann

CREDITS: 

COMPOSERS | Sbusiso Shozi & Nhlanhla Mahlangu
DIRECTOR | Sbusiso Shozi
CREATIVE DIRECTOR | Nhlanhla Mahlangu
MUSICAL MENTOR | Neo Muyanga
VOCALISTS | Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala, Pertunia Msani, Vhahangwele Moopo, Gregory “Kekelingo” Mabusela & Tsegofatso Khunwane
INSTRUMENTALISTS | Tuyêt Pham (Piano), Deniz Tahberer (Violin), Julia Lindner (Viola), Arnulf Ballhorn (Contrabass) & Magdalena Bogner (Flute)
LIBRETTIST | Stacy Hardy 
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, KOMISCHE OPER | Benedikt Simonischek
PRODUCTION MANAGER, KOMISCHE OPER | LUCIA LEYSER
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, NEUKÖLLN OPER | Rainer Simon
MOMENTEUR FOR THE SO ACADEMY | Athena Mazarakis

Produced by The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Komische Oper Berlin & Neuköllner Oper