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

 THINKING IN MONTEVERDI

On Friday 30 May, The Centre for the Less Good Idea presents The Open Moment | Thinking in Monteverdi. 

From 26 to 30 May, The Centre for the Less Good Idea hosted the five-day workshop, Thinking in Monteverdi. A project with The African Renaissance Ensemble, the workshop was led by Neo Muyanga and Adam H. Golding, alongside a few key vocalists and musicians chosen by The Centre: Xolisile Bongwana, Nokuthula Magubane, Mapule Moloi, and Micca Manganye. 

As indicated by its title, Thinking in Monteverdi emerges from an engagement with the work of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. As The Centre’s co-founder, William Kentridge, started work towards a production of Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo, and thinking about the use of projections and different kinds of animation in the production, he discovered that Golding and the African Rennaissance Ensemble were also working on Monteverdi and also on fragments of L’Orfeo. 

“So I thought, ‘what happens if we bring these together, to see what the animation starts to do with the music, to have a chance to see that interaction’. I asked Neo Muyanga, who is the Impresario for the Less Good Idea, but is also a specialist in Italian madrigals, in music from the era of Monteverdi, to join and make different interventions,” says Kentridge. 

Over the course of the workshop, Muyanga worked with Centre musicians during the day, while Golding and the African Renaissance ensemble came in to rehearse in the evening. Each group’s repertoire was then introduced to the other, and it is through these collaborative interventions and cross-pollination that a new sound began to emerge. 

With the introduction of playful exercises in syncopated clapping, call-and-response vocals, and the improvisatory instrumentation of the Renaissance Ensemble, a contemporary take on Monteverdi emerged. As Muyanga puts it: “I want to know what Monteverdi’s compositions would sound like if he were moving through downtown Johannesburg.”

The improvisatory nature of the workshops carried through to The Open Moment, with its singular choral moments and playful, collaborative compositions, while the African Rennaissance Ensemble also shared compositions from its repertoire. Backed by Kentridge’s projections – his drawings, aphorisms, and collages – new discoveries, connections, and revelations emerged in the room. 

— David Mann

CREDITS

CONCEPTUALISERS | Neo Muyanga, William Kentridge & Adam H. Golding
VISUAL ARTIST | William Kentridge
MOMENTEUR FOR THE SO ACADEMY | Athena Mazarakis
THE CENTRE FOR THE LESS GOOD IDEA MUSICIANS | Neo Muyanga (Conductor), Xolisile Bongwana (Tenor), Nokuthula Magubane (Soprano), Mapule Moloi (Mezzo Soprano) & Micca Manganye (Percussion)
THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE ENSEMBLE INSTRUMENTALISTS | Adam H. Golding (Musical Director/Conductor), Caren Kleynhans (Recorders), Handri Lootz (Renaissance flute), Ute Smythe (Baroque violin), Tanya Spiller (Baroque violin), John Warner (Baroque viola), Isabella Bonnet (Baroque viola), Bryan Moore (Baroque cello), Dillon Davie (Theorbo), Hilton Anspach (Contrabass), Doron Kanar (Alto sackbut), Dan Selsick (Tenor sackbut), Jesse Stevens (Bass sackbut), Caleb Lester (Bass trombone) & John Reid Coulter (Virginal and organ)
THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE ENSEMBLE VOCALISTS | Esté Meerkotter (Soprano 1), Leigh Nudelman (Soprano 1), Glynnis Kanar (Soprano 2), Esther Lategan (Soprano 2), João Ribeiro (Countertenor), Adam H Golding (Tenor), Doron Kanar (Tenor), Jesse Stevens (Bass) & Andrew Gould (Bass)
VIDEO EDITOR & CONTROLLER | Zana Marović 

All photographs by Zivanai Matangi