Register HERE
DATES - March 16-30, 2025
VENUE - Volmoed Retreat, Hermanus and Chartfield Guesthouse, Cape Town
LEADERS - Bongani Magatyana and Kali Paguirigan
COST - $2050 USD + $125 USD Registration Fee (based on double occupancy)
$2550 USD + $125 USD Registration Fee (single occupancy - limited spots)

 Join us for an exciting two week choral singing study program in South Africa! Led by Bongani Magatyana (Bongani Music Creations) and Kali Paguirigan (Denver Choir League)- this trip will be a combination of intensive music and dance study, performances, sightseeing, , deep learning, and adventure! An  amazing opportunity to experience the rich music, culture, history, tradition and people of South Africa.
    During our rehearsal week we will of focus on learning South African songs and their dances, including contemporary songs, traditional gospel, church chorus, folk and struggle songs. We will study with Bongani Magatyana and several guest teachers from Cape Town at the beautiful Volmoed Retreat Center in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley about 90 minutes away from Cape Town. We will learn dance movements for every song. Four Sotho and Xhosa singers from  Bongani’s choirs will join us as full participants in the camp, enriching the learning experience and the cultural exchange all around. Noxolo Magatyana (Bongani's wife known as Noxi) will be the head cook during this time and while she will be organizing the meals and the kitchen, we will all take turns to help out with meal prep and clean up during the week.
    We will be singing and learning for about 6 hours a day during this period.
Initial days will be full-out rehearsals with self-catering meals. Later in the week, we will take breaks for nearby excursions including a trip to Stony Point to see penguin colonies. One evening Bongani and Noxi will lead a traditional Xhosa meal with traditional Xhosa singing (and improvised songwriting)
  For the second week we will leave Hermanus and go to Chartfield Guesthouse -our home in Cape Town for the week (just outside of Cape Town in Kalk Bay).  Bongani will arrange a week of concerts and collaborations with local choirs in and around the city while we take every possible opportunity to explore the beautiful sights of the Cape.
   We will have several performances of our South African repertoire and musical exchanges with school choirs, OAC elders choir. a prison choir, Bongani's church choirs, Khayelitsha Children's Choir. We will also enjoy excursions to a winery, Table Mountain tramway, Lion's Head hike, Robben Island boat tour, a wine tasting, Nelson Mandela museum, a dinner at Marco's Restaurant and an African Feast at Kirstenbosch Gardens!
The whole trip will end at a choral festival that Bongani will be organizing with several local choirs on Saturday March 29th. That evening will be our last together and we will celebrate and be all together one more time before heading off on March 30th.
Through the partnership, inspiration and mentorship of  Village Harmony  Bongani Magatyana has started to lead some of his own camps. He has taught international students through Village Harmony for many years and became inspired to offer some of his own programs while continuing to work extensively with Village Harmony. Bongani began 'Bongani Music Creations' in 2023 and is excited to receive his second group of international singers.
    We have room for 24-26 singers and are hoping for a balance between SATB sections.
**Just a reminder that this trip will be self-catered (for the first week) though we will be providing all of the groceries and will treat each other with a rotating cooking schedule - a fun way to spend time together as a group!
WHAT'S INCLUDED in the FEE
  • all workshops
  • all sightseeing outings
  • all food in Week 1, breakfasts in week 2 and about half of other meals (you will be responsible for about 8-10 meals)
  • all accommodations (based on double occupancy)
  • all in country transport
  • all donations for local choirs

What's not included in the fee

  • airfare to and from Cape Town
  • approx 8-10 meals in second week

BONGANI MAGATYANA is a music director, composer, and theatrical producer. Born in Cape Town in a township called Old Crossroads; his father was a self-taught choir conductor in the Old Apostolic Church (OAC). Magatyana’s father taught him to read and write tonic solfa music notation at a very young age, and he dreamed of becoming a church choir conductor like his father. Today, he conducts a 120-voice OAC choir as well as a male community choir. His folk-inspired choral compositions—popular pieces for South Africa’s major choral competitions—are performed by choirs across South Africa and internationally.

During the height of the AIDS epidemic, Magatyana led an ensemble (Siyaya, based at JL Zwane Centre in Gugulethu) that was dedicated to providing HIV-prevention education through musical productions. He currently serves as an instructor—both at home, and abroad—for the organization Village Harmony, and frequently works as a clinician with university choirs in South Africa and across the United States.

When in Cape Town, Magatyana directs the Khayelitsha Children’s Choir, teaches at the Zolani Centre in Nyanga Township, leads an educational musical theatre company, and continues to compose music in a variety of genres, bringing vibrant performances to communities across the world.  Bongani just produced a musical theatre production called Izikhalo Zika Nogqawuse (The musical) which was funded by the National Arts Council and created jobs for more than 40 singers and musicians