Children’s opera Hijangua
Eslon Hindundu
"Hijangua" - A Journey into the Desert
for two singers, one actor and orchestra
Eslon Hindundu
Conductor
Eslon Hindundu - Conductor
Eslon Hindundu was born and raised in Windhoek (Namibia) and he studied at the College of the Arts Namibia and Odeion School of music, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Hindundu started singing in various school choirs but his talent was recognized by Fanie Dorlfing when he auditioned for COTA Youth Choir Namibia in 2010. He was part of the choir that won ATKV Animato Choir competition Pretoria, South Africa in 2010 and World Choir Games in 2012 and 2014 where the choir got three Gold and one Silver.
Hindundu was a soloist for COTA Youth Choir from the year 2011 up until 2015 under the leadership of Fanie Dorlfing. He started taking singing lessons at the College of the Arts, Namibia with Hermien Coetzee in 2015.
Hindundu started composing/arranging choral music for various School choirs, church choirs and brass band around the country in 2015. His composition has been performed all over the world and at international event (e.g. World Choir Games 2018). The Namibian National Symphony Orchestra premiered two of his composition in February 2019 during the NNSO Valentine’s concert. Ever since the premier, his composition has been performed by visiting orchestras from Germany and the Festival Orchestra of MusikWoche and Immling Opera Festival (Germany). NNSO String Quartet performed one of his composition during the 250 celebration of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven in Omaruru (December 2020). Hindundu got the first Namibian composition/arrangement Published by Wilton’s Music from America. He composed the First Namibian Opera and had the world premiere at the National Theatre of Namibia on 09&10 September 2022, making it a historic event.
Hindundu was the conductor of Ella Du Plessis High School choir 2013; the choir took part in ATKV Applause competition and managed to get a Silver. In 2015 Massive Community Choir and St.John A.F.M Church Choir Namibia took part in the ATKV Animato 2015 and got Silver under his leadership. ST. John A.F.M Church Choir took part in the National choral Competition of Namibia 2015 which was organized by the Ministry of Education Arts and Culture and got the first place in the Omaheke Region and qualified to participant in the Finals. They also took part in the Old Mutual National Choir Competition 2016 and 2017 which was held in Windhoek, Namibia and came second overall under Hindundu leadership.
Hindundu got to conduct and perform with well establish choirs and Wind bands (Orchestra) in Namibia as well as South Africa, he was a member of the Bloemfontein Cathedral Singers South Africa under the leadership of Lance Phillip. He was the Choir Master at Saint Michael’s School for Girls Bloemfontein 2018. Eslon Hindundu has performed international at United Nation Economic Commission for Africa Conferences for Ministers of Finance and has participated in the College of the Arts (COTA) Concerto Festival 2015 under the leadership of Hermien Coetzee and performed with Namibian National Symphony Orchestra (German Classics meets Namibia Concert 2017 and Valentine’s Concert 2019). Hindundu was part of the World Youth Choir 2018 which was held in China. He was an assistant Conductor at Musikwoche Swakopmund Namibia Festival (2018 & 2019) and Immling Opera Festival Germany (as an assistance Conductor) and conducted the choir and orchestra (Making him the first conductor in Namibia to conduct an international Orchestra).
Hindundu conducted and premiered his first Oratorio on 27&28 November 2020 with members of the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra (NNSO) and his own choir Vox Vitae Singers. He was also the Musical Director and conducted the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra during the world premiere of his Opera (Chief Hijangua Opera), the First Namibian Opera.
Eslon Hindundu is the founder and the conductor of Vox Vitae Musica Namibia.
Janice van Rooy
Soprano
Galilei Njembo
Tenor
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Gretl Kautzsch
Puppendesign
Tanja Miloševic
Puppenspiel
Sean Morris Grimm
Puppenspiel
Nikolaus Frei
Libretto
Kim Mira Meyer
Director
Hijangua – A Journey into the Desert
Chief Hijangua is Namibia’s first opera and celebrated its premiere in 2022 at the National Theatre of Namibia as a Namibian-German cooperation project.
The work “Chief Hijangua” elaborates on the common history between Namibia and Germany during the colonial period in a multilingual and intercultural exchange: The opera is sung in Otjiherero – one of Namibia’s languages – and in German.
In cooperation with the Humboldt Forum, a version for children will be performed as a school and family concert on three days. (Suitable for children from six to 12 years)