Amira in concert – October 2019

Concert-wise, October has been a very busy month for Amira. Here are some highlights!

On October 23rd, Amira and Corlea Botha performed at the Nelson Mandela University South Campus Auditorium in Port Elizabeth. The concert was titled Two Sopranos in Concert and organised by The Music Society of Port Elizabeth. The two ladies were accompanied by the Nelson Mandela University Choir. 

An eyewitness report, as provided by Robert Zahn:
What an incredible evening! 
Tine and I attended the grand finale concert in the 2019 series of the ‘Music Society of Port Elizabeth’ at NMU. 
The impressive university choir introduced two sopranos, namely Amira Willighagen and Corlea Botha. 
Amira Willighagen,15, won ‘Holland’s Got Talent’ in 2013 at the age of 9. She has moved to South Africa and is absolutely sensational. What I really admire the most about this young lady is that she makes donations to the ‘Gelukskinders Foundation’, ensuring that playgrounds for the underprivileged are built in South Africa. Her voice was powerful and repertoire wide. The packed theatre was spell bound by the magical voice. 
Corlea Botha is well known and needs no introduction. Her involvement in ‘Classics is Groot’ will be known to most and she has so much CHUTZPAH, that she had us in tears of laughter between her powerful pieces.
Corlea had a cold and apologised for not always being able to hit the high notes. I would not even have noticed had she not informed us. 

The cherry on top was when the duet sang ‘Time to Say Goodbye’. Corlea wasn’t sure that she would be able to sing it, given her voice constraints and they hadn’t had time to practice it together. She asked if they could attempt it. Well, my word!!! I don’t think that there was a dry eye in the audience. Standing Ovation!”

The full list of songs performed by Amira on that evening: How Great Thou Art, O mio babbino caro, Nessun Dorma, Gabriella’s Song, Nella Fantasia, Sound of Music, I Dreamed a Dream, With All My Heart, and a duet with Corlea Botha – Time To Say Goodbye.

On that night, Amira wore two dresses she had been bought by fans for her 15th birthday! Both of them designed and made by BeDazzled. 

 

On October 12th, Amira performed in the flower-filled Agape Church in Potchefstroom. The concert was to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the church, and its members, as well as the local community, worked hard to make it a joyful event. On stage, Amira was joined by a young and very talented soprano Funeka Bokwana. They sang beautiful duets and solos. Amira about Funeka, I really enjoyed her singing because I love her voice, so you all will probably see a lot more of me and Funeka in the future!

 

On October 5th, Amira and Jannie Moolman performed together in Bloemfontein at an event called Classical Festival organised by the Brandfort Church. Amira and her family received a very warm welcome there. They enjoyed the local scenery and hospitality, as well as their visit to a game park.

Here are some excerpts from a local newspaper article: 
Amira and Jannie Moolman raised the roof in Bloemfontein. They shared the stage with Jan Elsenaar, a well-known organ builder and organist from Brandfort, the senior choir of Gray College and the junior high school choir ‘President Swart’ in Brandfort. Amira sang ‘Ave Maria’, accompanied by Jan Elsenaar on the organ. “It was a privilege to share the stage with another Dutchman,” she said of the performance.  Jannie Moolman and Amira sang 2 duets together: ‘Nessun Dorma’ from Puccini’s opera ‘Turandot’ and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘All I ask of you’ from ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. 

Another song Amira performed was I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Misérables. It is also worth mentioning that Ave Maria performed by Amira is a composition by Franz Schubert, thus a new one in Amira’s repertoire.

Photo credit: Amira Willighagen Official Facebook page