COMFESA emerged from a series of Choral Indabas, engaging and uniting choral practitioners to tackle the industry’s need for professionalization, sustainability, and commercial viability.
A critical industry challenge has been the over-reliance on competitions to gauge success, overshadowing the genre’s broader artistic value and neglecting long-term individual development. This focus has limited choirs’ purpose and visibility to competition settings alone, hindering the growth of individual talents.
The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed the sector’s vulnerabilities, especially the reliance on live performances and the lack of a unified voice in seeking government support. This backdrop underscored the necessity for COMFESA’s International Provincial Symposia, aiming to address these challenges and redefine the future of choral music in South Africa.