Strings Exchange

20 - 30 January 2010

The Festspielhaus St Pölten is a major partner in the Cape Festival's Strings Exchange. Under the direction of Swiss violinist and conductor Etienne Abelin and pedagogue Susanne Hofer, eight young musicians travelled from Lower Austria to Hout Bay in January 2010. In an intense working period, they joined their counterparts from the Hout Bay Music Trust, directed by Lian Dollmann, to work together on African and European music and dance.

The young string-players from the informal settlement of Imizamu Yethu are maintaining contact with the Austrian group and actively planning a continuation of their exchange. Through presentations to schools, media and community organizations in Lower Austria and at the Festspielhaus St Pöten, the Asutrian youngsters develop their own communication skills, raise community awareness of the value of intercultural exchange, and helping to raise funds for the project's continuation.

The Strings Exchange will continue with a visit by the Hout Bay Music Project to St Pöten in October 2010, and community workshops on intercultural exchange and music pedagogy held in Lower Austria and Cape Town will be monitored by the UdK Berlin's music education department.

The relationship will continue through the 2011 Cape Festival and beyond. This pilot project provides a successful model for future educational exchanges across a wide range of musical fields.