Seatavern

O Fire of the Spirit: From the Ashes

Inaugural Concert - Goodnow Hall, Wellington

Saturday, 11 October 2025 at 12:00

A Homecoming Nine Years in the MakingBe part of history as music returns to Goodnow Hall for the first time since 2016. This isn’t just a concert – it’s a homecoming woven through with extraordinary synchronicities.

In spring 2016, composer Braam du Toit was notating the final bars of “My Blessing” for Goodnow Hall’s premiere when the piet-my-vrou calls – heralds of spring – revealed a hidden design. The entire work arrived in one wondrous cloudburst. The melody had come first – unusual for du Toit – waiting for its text. The music spoke of Noah’s ark, of survival through flood. Days before the premiere, October 26, 2016, Goodnow Hall burned. Only afterwards did he discover this hall was built in 1886 from American timber salvaged from the shipwreck of the Olga R at Mouille Point. Water, fire, ark, resurrection – the patterns were there all along, waiting to be seen.

The Program: Voices Across Centuries

Experience rarely-performed works that speak of received wisdom and transformation:

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179): O quam mirabilis est & O ignis Spiritus paracliti. 12th-century mystical visions from the “Sibyl of the Rhine” – music she believed came through her, not from her. These works are seldom heard in South Africa, making this performance particularly special.

Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu (1900-1984): Three Songs (arr. Peter Klatzow). Ancestral Zulu songs carried in the bones of King Dinuzulu’s daughter – the earth itself singing through her. Peter Klatzow’s sensitive arrangements build bridges between worlds.

John Tavener (1944-2013): Prayer of the Heart. Where prayer merges with heartbeat, this 14-minute meditation embodies Tavener’s belief that music is remembered, not invented – a pilgrim’s journey traced through ancient steps.

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Adagio from String Quartet No. 1, Op. 11. Perhaps the most profound meditation on loss and beauty in the classical repertoire, speaking in the ancient language of lamentation.

Braam du Toit (b. 1981): Vertroosting & My Blessing. “Vertroosting” sets Marlene van Niekerk’s poetry to music, while “My Blessing” – the work that waited nine years for this moment – finally finds its intended home.

Lusibalwethu Sesanti (b. 1996): Umthandazo. Contemporary South African voice weaving The Lord’s Prayer in isiXhosa with the Surah Al-Fatihah, bridging sacred traditions.

Our Exceptional Artists

Lusibalwethu Sesanti* – Composer and featured vocalist for “Umthandazo,” bridging sacred traditions through contemporary South African voice

Nonhlanhla Yende* – Featured voice bringing power and grace to Princess Magogo’s songs and the divine voice in “My Blessing”

Lente Louw (mezzo soprano) – Her ethereal voice carries Hildegard’s visions and Tavener’s mystical prayer, creating sonic architecture from distant acoustic spaces

Sandra Prinsloo (narrator) – South Africa’s legendary actress weaves these musical threads into a unified tapestry through poetic interludes

Nicholas Bruiners (violin 1) Kaitlin Visser-Downie (violin 2) Petrus Coetzee (viola) Ashlin Grobbelaar (cello) Siyolise Nyondo (contrabass) José Dias (piano)

Conductor: Sunell Jacobs – Guiding this complex musical journey with grace and vision

Women’s Choir: Voices from Overberg villages and akKOORd, women who understand that harmony isn’t just musical – it’s communal, spiritual, transformative

*Lusibalwethu Sesanti and Nonhlanhla Yende appear by kind permission of Cape Town Opera

The Hall’s Remarkable Story

Dr. Adrienne van As, Wellington historian, opens with Goodnow Hall’s extraordinary narrative: In 1885, the barque Olga R sailed from New York carrying prefabricated American timber for the Seminary’s new hall. The ship wrecked at Mouille Point. The salvaged timber, transformed by salt water into something resembling dark oak, was rescued and repurchased by Rev. Andrew Murray for £350 less than originally paid. These sea-strengthened beams supported the hall for 130 years. Some survived the 2016 fire and still hold the restored building today. During the concert, look up and witness these twice-rescued beams – physical embodiments of resilience.

Where the great organ once filled the apse with sound, human voices will now fill that sacred curve – remarkably echoing the halo of voices in the original vision for “My Blessing.”

A Day of Musical Unity

This noon concert partners with an evening performance at Stellenbosch’s Moederkerk for the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees – two historic venues joining hands to make possible what neither could achieve alone. Together they tell a story of transformation that resonates across the Boland.

Practical Information

Duration: Approximately 80 minutes (no interval) Venue: Goodnow Hall, CPUT Wellington Campus (celebrating 20 years) Parking: Available on campus Tickets: Online: R180 | Students: R100 | Pensioners: R162 At the door: R200 (all tickets) Bookings: Via Quicket (this page) Information: braamdutoit@gmail.comWith Grateful Acknowledgment: CPUT Wellington Campus (20th anniversary celebrations), Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees, Breytenbach Centre Wellington, Swellendam Music Society, The Coke Foundation (development funding)

Like fynbos that needs fire to release its seeds, this music reflects the remarkable ability to rise from ashes – to create beauty from destruction.