composer and conductor
"His
music is absolutely fascinating"
- PAULA CITRON
on Classical 93&106 FM Toronto
"South
Africa might have found a voice in Ndodana...Richly varied polyrhythms
underlined his melodies hinting at folk tunes. In his fresh orchestration
...I went away having heard epic music by a young Romantic."
- CHARLES STAFF,
INDIANAPOLIS STAR.
(Pic: The Indianapolis
Chamber Orchestra who gave the world premiere of Symphony No. 2 "Umuntu
Wa Bantu" in July 1998.)
"An
original score by South African sensation Bongani Ndodana played by a small
chamber orchestra sweetened up the mix , and by the end of the night, it
was crystal clear that going to church can be tons of fun"
- NOW Magazine,
Toronto
"Rituals
For Forgotten Faces showed startling maturity with insistent phrasing repeated
in different contexts."
- Geoff Chapman,
TORONTO STAR
"I
especially enjoyed [Rituals ForForgotten Faces] No. 4a and No 4b...pizzicatos
joyfully evoked the sound of African thumb pianos."
- NATIONAL POST,
Canada
"Ndodana's
music is endlessly inventive. It is a lyrical score that marries African
and European music in an unpretentious, almost unconscious way."
- Prof. LUCIA -
CUE, Grahamstown So.Africa
"Mr.
Ndodana's work [Uhambo] was based on the epic poem 'Pilgrimage to Dias
Cross' by Guy Butler…it mixes images from 400 years of Grahamstown history,
including
the stone cross erected in 1488 by Bartholomew Dias, the Portuguese Navigator,
to the apocalyptic visions of 15-year-old Nongqause, the Joan of Arc of
the Xhosa,"
- D. McNeil,
NEW YORK TIMES, July 98.
(pic Prof Guy Butler)
"To
celebrate Guy Butler's 80th birthday, as well as his founding of the festival,
SA musical wunderkind Bongani Ndodana (only 22 years old) has transformed
Butler's epic poem Pilgrimage to Dias Cross into an opera-oratorio. The
poem has a huge historical canvas... but the emotional magnitude of Butler's
creation is transmitted into a composition altogether more reflective and
intimate. It is an imaginative tribute to Butler's transcending poem
and dream for the festival."
- Maurice Podbrey
FINANCIAL MAIL, Jnb July 17, 1998
"From
the opening [of The Alleluias], the dissonances and clashes spiced with
a healthy dose of African themes filled the space with a sublime anarchy.
Aluta Continua!"
James Phillips,
City Press, Johannesburg, South Africa, July, 1995
"Opera
is for all - Bongani proves it."
Fiona Chisholm,
Cape Times, January, 1997
"Bongani
Ndodana's [chamber] opera, Temba and Seliba, was a pleasant discovery.
A mix of English and Xhosa, and Western influences, this has a classic
love triangle as its central theme. The music is uplifting and quite lovely
and would also work well as a recording."
Gill Lord, Cape
Argus July, 1997
"Bongani
has strong ideas about changing the image of opera so it's accessible to
everyone. He brings opera to Africans, to whom singing is as natural as
breathing."
Gillian Warren-Brown,
Drum Magazine, Johannesburg, R.S.A., May, 1996
