My name is Kiran Wolf, and I am a grade 9 student at the Windhoek International School. Last weekend, I helped the 11th Grade student Anna Verchusa pull off a spectacular concert involving young musicians from all over Namibia!
After attending the Swakopmunder Musikwoche last December, Anna and I agreed that we needed more music opportunities available to Namibians and a way to support the wonderful week-long festival in Swakopmund. We settled on raising funds for the Musikwoche as well as opening the doors of a concert to children who might be interested in taking up a musical instrument. Both our concert at the American Center, generously hosted by His Excellency, Ambassador Berry, and our amazing, more extensive concert at DHPS were inspiring as they gave youth musical talents a chance to share their gifts with the world. We titled these events The Music Journeys Concert, because of all of the things young people can learn from playing music with others, beyond just that skill of playing the instrument itself.
At the end of the concert, it was a joy to be on stage as we all played Beethoven’s iconic Ode To Joy. As I looked around from my seat, I saw faces from all over Windhoek and all over Namibia. Members of the Youth Orchestras of Namibia, the DHPS orchestra, Otjikondo Primary School, Namibian Arts Performance Center from Oshikuku, and the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra all played together proudly, just as we had when the concert commenced with the National Anthem.
In the future, we hope more people will take part in and support Namibian musical events such as the Swakopmunder Musikwoche. Children benefit so much from playing music and it is a shame that so many are forced to discontinue their passion because of external reasons. Here’s a big shout out to all WIS teachers and students who attended the concert and helped make it such a great success!
See you all for a great week of music making in Swakopmund this December!
Sincerely,
Kiran Wolf
Anna Verchusa
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