When the old arts councils dissolved, members of the arts community were pessimistic. The domain of 'serious music' was particularly threatened, but ‘pessimism’ was not a word you'd find in the dictionary of the passionate members of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
With determination, strong leadership and - let's not forget - the richness of an orchestra of hugely talented individuals, the JPO has not only survived the stormy seas of economic uncertainty, but flourished. Today, the JPO presents programmes of the highest international standards, featuring the cream of both local and international names in classical music.
The year 2010 may be a biggie for soccer fans, but it's also a very significant one for the JPO, which celebrates its 10
th year of existence. The festivities have been made that much sweeter by the confirmation of a three-year, R36-million funding boost from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.
The current Deputy Chairman of the JPO, Prof Stephen Jurisich, was Chairman at the orchestra's inception. He was asked to look back at those troubled times.
"While several high profile individuals initially offered their support, much of this did not materialise, and the birth of the JPO in May 2000 can to a large degree be attributed to the hard work and tenacity of Elsabe Laubscher; Sara Gon; and Handri Loots. They were joined by myself; Kutlwano Masote; and Nathan Thomas as the core of the founding group."
Other people played important support roles, but essentially it was this core that took the orchestra through 2000 and into 2001. "A critical meeting took place in late 2000," he recalls, "when the conditions of membership where established and finalised, and the foundations of the membership of the JPO as it is today were laid."
As orchestras do around the world, the JPO looked to the corporate world for sponsorship, but one of the major early sponsors walked away in mid-season, as they hadn't been happy about funds being used for functions such as marketing. The JPO leadership had tried to explain - but to no avail, unfortunately - that there was no point in having paid musicians if they were going to play in empty halls...
It was in those early days that the giraffe JPO logo was adopted by the orchestra, and wooden giraffes were featured on the stage, while small carved copies were given as gifts to visiting artists.
In November 2000, prior to constituting the first Board of Directors, Janet Mitchell became a significant driving force behind the running of the orchestra. "She brought in Hugo Olivier as the first administrative manager of the JPO, on a pro-bono basis," Prof Jurisich continues, "and it was Hugo who put in place Exco and most of the operational structures of the JPO. He brought great organisational and structural skill, and the JPO flourished under his guidance."
The JPO's first Board was constituted in early 2001, and the founding directors elected by the company members were Elsabe Laubscher; Nathan Thomas; Kutlwano Masote; Stephen Jurisich; and Reuben Khemese (Sara Gon had resigned her directorship).
The JPO was delighted to have Anglo-American sponsor the second season, and come on board as a long-term sponsor. This new era of a more formal JPO structure saw Prof Jurisich being elected as the first Chairman. At that stage, the annual format was four seasons of five weeks apiece.
Elsabe Laubscher and Kutlwano Masote resigned from their positions in June 2001, and the third season brought with it a cash flow crisis, as it was mounted without a sponsor. Says Prof Jurisich, "The number of musicians used in certain works had to be pruned, and we also had to change some programmes in order to save money."
A sponsor planning a New York listing pulled out as a sponsor after the 9/11 attacks in the US, leaving the JPO with no season sponsor for the fourth season at the last minute. "Regretfully," the Prof continues, "we had to cancel the whole season – not before we had approached several companies begging for assistance. This has been the only time in the 10 years that we’ve done this, although there were other occasions when we came close to needing to do so again! We also stopped hosting concerts in Pretoria, as the small audiences were costing us a lot of money."
The year 2002 saw a dramatic reduction in sponsorship, which forced the JPO to prune its seasons, in that year, to three concerts instead of five. It wasn't all bad news that year, however. In fact, it proved to be one of great innovation and excitement.
The JPO logo that's still in use today was redesigned early in 2002. It would also be the year in which financial giants such as Liberty; Stanlib; and Standard Bank started taking an interest in the sponsorship of concerts and themed events. Michael Hankinson came on board as music advisor and conductor, as he had worked with the orchestra on a number of occasions.
When the famed American conductor, Benjamin Zander helmed a JPO gig at the Kyalama Theatre on the Tracks, it proved to be a great publicity boost for the orchestra, as many top businessmen attended.
Later that year, the ‘Adopt a Musician’ initiative proved to be a big success. The JPO also ventured out to Pretoria again, with a once-off concert conducted by Michael Hankinson.
By presenting the orchestrated music of Queen at the Sandton Convention Centre, the JPO made a bold bid at taking the orchestra to new audiences. The Telkom Christmas Concert, which was televised on SABC2, was a very visible way to close the year.
The following year would start with a new GM and Deputy Chair of the Board, in the person of Sara Gon. The number of concerts in a season was stepped up to five, and, in July, the JPO received the results of its first statistically accurate audience survey carried out by some of the top undergraduate students in the Wits School of Statistics and Actuarial Science. "Apparently," notes the Prof, "the students who performed the survey became regular concert attendees until their careers took them elsewhere in the world."
In 2004, the JPO presented Jo'burg Pops in conjunction with Liberty, and continued with four symphony seasons at the Linder. Notably, it would also be the year in which the JPO recorded the world premiere of Coleridge-Taylor’s violin concerto with Phillipe Graffin and Michael Hankinson, to great critical acclaim. "It was also a Grammophone Editor’s choice," the Prof proudly notes.
Shadrack Bokaba (today the MD) joined the JPO Board as Development Director in early 2004, and Walter Mosetlhi joined in the third quarter. The latter became Chairman in January of the following year, and Prof became Deputy Chairman.
The Professor concedes that there’ve been ups and downs, and more than a fair share of strife and internal politics, "but we overcame our obstacles, and we're here today, stronger and prouder than ever!"
The most significant development that took place, was the repositioning of the JPO from being part time, to offering its musicians full time contract. This differentiated the orchestra from the pack in this highly contested province of Gauteng, and enhanced playing standards of musicians, as they played more regularly together; created employment; and with the establishment of the training academy, ensured that a career path for young musicians is created. The JPO is the most transformed orchestra in South Africa!