A delegation of South African musicians visited Oberlin last month, returning the visit that was paid to their Conservatory by a contingency of Oberlin students in the past year. Nombuso Ndlandla, along with fellow singing students Tammy Aslett, Palesa Malieloa, senior voice lecturer Dr. Conroy Alan Cupido and senior piano lecturer Dr. Tinus Botha, were part of the group from Potchefstroom, South Africa’s North-West School of Music & Conservatory. Their visit to Oberlin lasted for roughly a week, from Friday, Sept. 20 through Saturday, Sept. 28.  In this short period of time, they managed to get a lot done: performing, sitting in on classes in the Conservatory and taking part in workshops. Their two performances were held on Sunday evening at Afrikan Heritage House on Sept. 22 and at Kendal at Oberlin on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

This wasn’t the first interaction between the residents of Oberlin and the North-West Conservatory. For a week during last year’s Winter Term, two Conservatory students and three faulty members visited North-West, taking part in tours, workshops and finally a conjoined concert, which from all accounts was a success.

At the performance, titled “Vocal Fusion: An Evening of Opera, Art Song, and Musical Theater” the singers were accompanied by Dr. Botha on the piano. The three young women stayed true to the program by performing a variety of songs for a very receptive audience. Ndlandla, a coloratura soprano, started off the evening by singing “Tornami a vagheggiar,” a Handel aria from Alcina. After her, Malieloa, an operatic soprano, sung two European tunes from a slightly later era: “Gretchen am Spinnrade” and “Cäcilie” by Franz Schubert and Richard Strauss, respectively. After Ndlandla sung “V’adoro, pupille” from Handel’s opera Giulio Cesare, Malieloa alternated by singing “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta” from Puccini’s La Rondine, and Ndlandla returned again to sing “Ständchen” by Strauss, the composer who the audience reacted most enthusiastically to, and an Afrikaans art song by S. Le Roux Marais called “Rooidag.”

Malieloa returned one last time to the stage to sing two contrasting melodies: a smooth and lovely Zulu art song called “Ngenani” and, from the opera Giuditta, “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß” by Franz Lehár. The latter was especially entertaining, as Malielona, with her eyebrow seductively raised as she confidently reached some seriously high notes, made herself out to be a slick femme fatale.

The recital ended when Aslett, a jazz vocalist, sung tunes more in line with musical theater. Her set began with a cute love song about “Taylor the Latte Boy”, followed by “Popular” and “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. Though her rendition of the latter song was a bit subdued, she gave a very enjoyable performance. When the set ended and the rest of the singers went onstage, there was rapturous applause.

It was not only the audience that appreciated this group’s stay in Oberlin. The visitors really enjoyed themselves, with Dr. Cupido expressing enthusiasm at the exchange program and hoping that this would lead to future study abroad work with the College. Meanwhile, the women said they were very pleased with the campus, the classes, the teachers, the albino squirrels and, of all things, the food.

Everyone appreciated this brief association between two countries, and if the reception at the small auditorium at Kendal at Oberlin was any evidence, further associations with the North-West School of Music & Conservatory will surely not be far in the future.