Opera Mauritius to perform in Accra, Kumasi

A nine-member team of artistes from the Opera Mauritius is in the country to entertain Ghanaian music lovers with classical music and opera.

The team, led by a Trustee of the Opera, Mr Paul Olsen, is billed to perform at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi today and at the National Theatre in Accra on Saturday July 22, 2017.

The team, which is in the country on the invitation of the Classical Music Association of Ghana, will collaborate with the Ghana Symphony Orchestra to “dish out” to music lovers, what they have missed over the years.

Good music

In an interview in Accra before leaving for Kumasi, Mr Olsen said, “classical music and opera are no longer a preserve of the western world. It is really something completely universal today.

“We are here simply to dish out good music and we expect Ghanaians to come, relax and enjoy the evening,” he told the Daily Graphic.

He said he believed that apart from enjoying the music, it would be an opportunity for Ghanaians to learn and know more about classical music.

Mr Olsen said enjoying classical music live on stage was completely different from listening to it on radio or watching it performed on television, adding, “it is something quite unique. Stage performance cannot be replaced by any of the media.”

Collaboration

He said the collaboration would be the beginning of many more collaborations and said through such collaborations, “we will help Ghana to be on the world map of classical music.”

Mr Olsen said the collaboration would also create an avenue for business opportunities between the two countries.

He was excited that Ghana had a world-class theatre for performing, adding, “this theatre has the potential for Barley, for opera.”

Promoting classical music

The Executive Committee Chairman, Mr Alex Osei-Owusu, said the association sought to make Ghana the hub of classical music in the sub-region to attract patrons to fly in to attend concerts.

He explained that the association was formed to provide a platform for lovers of classical music resident in Ghana to interact and promote listenership of the music and to bring the genre of music into mainstream music in the country.

Mr Osei-Owusu hinted that the association would partner with renowned symphony and philharmonic ochestras from Europe, Asia and America to play in Ghana to cater for both Ghanaians and expatriates living in the country.