World Music Program

On the last day of our tour, we had an opportunity to perform at the V&A Waterfront (V&A Waterfront) as part of the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival (SCL). Thank you to our SCL and CCNF (Choral Celebration Network Foundation) friends for all of their care and support throughout this experience! 🙏

Our students also presented cards at the end of the show, and we couldn’t be prouder of their work over the past two weeks.

This tour’s players spanned two ensembles, Grades 9–12. Since the spring, we’ve been meeting occasionally after school and on weekends to prepare. Our students’ dedication to this tour, and the ways they supported one another along the way, made this experience so special. We have been amazed by their maturity and growth.

At our final performance, we also said goodbye to Malcolm, who just graduated. We wish him all the best at UBC (University of British Columbia) and thank him for seven years of musicianship and leadership in the WMP. ❤️

A huge thank you to our students’ parents for their ongoing support and belief in this project, and to our chaperone team and Mr. North for their dedicated support on the ground.

And finally, thank you to our school’s incredible leaders, who believed in this project from the very beginning. Experiences like this take a community, and Brockton certainly has a strong one. 🙏

We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity, and we’ll have more to share in the coming weeks. For now, we are going to take a bit of a rest and look forward to seeing all of our ensembles again in September!

📸 Alan Ross

While on the Cape Town portion of our Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival, we had a chance to take a coach tour, which included beautiful Boulders Beach.

Boulders Beach is home to an important breeding colony of African penguins, a species found only along the coasts of southern Africa and now classified as critically endangered. Their population has declined by approximately 97% over the past century, making the protection of colonies like this especially important.

We also spotted a few local dassies (rock hyraxes), small mammals whose closest living relatives include elephants and manatees.

Some of our guys got into the South African spirit, sporting Springboks jerseys and showing their support for South Africa’s national rugby team (Springboks). 🇿🇦🏉

We had a great day exploring Cape Town and its surroundings and learning about its remarkable wildlife! 🐧

Thanks to Ellison Tours Ellison Travel & Tours and Pawsome Adventures for your care and hospitality.

📸 Professional photos by our WMP photographer, Alan Ross , with a few additional iPhone shots

We were honoured to perform at the historic Cape Town City Hall as part of the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival.

Built in 1905, Cape Town City Hall is an important cultural and performing arts venue. The building also holds a significant place in South African history. On February 11, 1990, just hours after his release following 27 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela addressed thousands of people from its balcony in his first public speech as a free man.

Thank you to our new friends at the CCNF (Choral Celebration Network Foundation ) for welcoming us, and to the three wonderful South African groups with whom we shared the concert: Curro Durbanville Choir (Curro Durbanville), Tribal Union Gospel Choir, and Dainfern College Marimba Band (Dainfern College).

We are grateful to have shared the stage with you all! 🎶🇿🇦🇨🇦

📸 Alan Ross

Braiton Valentine

As part of our Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival experience, we went on a guided safari through Pilanesberg National Park. Promise, our guide from Mankwe Game Trackers, was incredibly knowledgeable and hospitable, and it was truly an extraordinary experience.

The park spans more than 550 km² and lies within the Pilanesberg Alkaline Ring Complex, the deeply eroded remains of an ancient volcanic complex formed around 1.3 billion years ago. Its unusual geology and distinctive concentric ring structure make it one of the world’s most remarkable alkaline volcanic complexes.

Between our group, we saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, and a pride of lions. It was an experience of a lifetime!

We think these photos by Alan Ross speak for themselves. ❤️

Throughout the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival, we’ve had many opportunities not only to perform for other international groups, but to share music with them.

One particularly special experience was performing the piece we learned in our workshop with Mike Sibanda (Michael Sibanda) alongside the St. Stithians marimba band (St Stithians College). Learning music from Mike and then having the opportunity to play it together made the experience especially meaningful.

It has been a joy and an honour to play with and alongside musicians from around the world, sharing different musical traditions and learning from one another in the process!

We are deeply grateful to the SCL Festival (SCLFestival) and the CCNF (Choral Celebration Network Foundation) for creating so many opportunities for this kind of musical exchange. There really is nothing quite like making music together. 🎶❤️

📸 Alan Ross

ittakesacommunity zimbabweanmarimbas

At the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival in Sun City, we had an opportunity to take an African Music workshop with Hamilton Chillies Motloung MUSIC Creation.

Hamilton is the conductor of Duduza Serenade, an inspirational choral group established over two decades ago in the Duduza township. Rooted in communal music-making, Duduza brings hope through Indigenous and gospel music.

Hamilton led us through call-and-response rhythms, layered African harmonies, expressive body movement, and overall stage presence. We are grateful to him for his time, and we’ve become huge fans of Duduza Serenade 🎶

PS: Thanks to Michael Sibanda for joining us 🙌

📸 Alan Ross

On our first day at the festival, we gathered at the Sun City Amphitheatre for the Inkululeko Ngomculu Parade.

This led us into the Superbowl Hall at Sun City, where we performed at the Opening Ceremony for the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival on tour in South Africa. 🇿🇦

It was wonderful to meet the other groups at the festival and to listen to a performance by Duduza Serenade, conducted by Hamilton Chillies Motloung MUSIC Creation. ❤️

📸 Alan Ross

A highlight of our time at the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival was an interactive African drumming circle at the Sun City Amphitheatre! 🛢️🎶

This highly immersive session featured djembe drumming, dancing, and singing, and was a wonderful way to bring the international festival groups together through music.

We are so grateful to the South African drummers who led this joyful gathering and shared their music and energy with us!

📸 Alan Ross

On our first morning at the Summa Cum Laude Youth Music Festival in South Africa, after meeting the instruments and doing a short warmup on ’s new marimbas, we had the opportunity to do a workshop with Michael Sibanda music director of the St Stithians College Boys’ Preparatory Marimba Band.

Back in 2008, we heard Mike’s group perform, and that experience inspired us to bring Zimbabwean marimbas to Brockton School.

During the workshop, Mike taught us a piece his students knew, and we had a great time spending an hour learning it and putting it all together! 🎶

This workshop was a wonderful full-circle moment for our program, and we are grateful to the SCL Festival for making it happen.

📸 Alan Ross