Orchestral conductor Ofentse Pitse takes up the baton for young, black talent

Ofentse Pitse has been hailed as the youngest African woman to own and lead an all-black orchestra.

The multi-talented South African actually trained to be an architect, completing her studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).

Now she is a conductor and owner of Anchored Sound, a 40-piece orchestra and 25-person strong choir.

Marking Women's Month, Sara-Jayne Makwala King talks to the rising star about her journey and inspiration.

Raised in Mabopane in the city of Tshwane, Ofentse found herself on her music journey through the church her family attended.

She says the first seed was planted because her family believed so much in education and attributes much of her success to her mother's support.

"I had that support when I decided to tell my mom that I want to play the trumpet from the brass band I saw at church... It made me so comfortable to continue to go to church and tell her that I want to explore this world of learning how to play music and understanding music and the evolution of that introduced me to classical music as well... 

"Yes, this is not something that's usual in black families, so I was blessed enough to have a mother would never tell me that I'm making noise... She just believed in everything that I did, and that support allowed me to dream beyond the glass ceiling."

Ofentse Pitse, Conductor

Pitse says her musical career happened organically, blossoming when she started a youth choir.

She invited members to bring friends who played instruments, and as this took off she realised they needed a conductor.

The young orchestra leader lauds the mentors who helped her develop her skills in this arena.

"In my ideal world I was going to be this huge architect who designed some cool buildings across the world, but when the music bug hit me it hit me because I started my youth choir and developed my skills coming from being a trumpet player..."

"My journey started from there because I started DM-ing conductors from Facebook and Instagram, just seeking mentorship from anyone who would listen. Gerben Grooten, who was the head of music at the University of Pretoria agreed to guide me, and with his mentorship I learned everything that I knew and I'm still learning."

"Before I knew it I was doing a concert with Judith Sepuma, and after that the title of the first young black female conductor came about from this Sowetan article ... so it was organic; I was as shocked as everyone else!"

Ofentse Pitse, Conductor

One of the recent highlights of her career is being chosen by Alicia Keyes to lead an all-woman orchestra to celebrate Netflix series 'Queen Charlotte' with a  rendition of 'If I Ain't Got You'.

Ofentse says the mentorship of Grooten and fellow leading conductor Thami Zungu came with a 'pay it forward' principle.

Passing on the baton to a younger generation herself is a bit mind-boggling at this stage as she's still evolving as a conductor, Pitse says.

"I hope the work that I do and the trajectory of my career can inspire the next generation so that when the time is right... I can go into mentoring younger girls or even younger boys..."

"...because a lot of the conducting I do is about leadership; probably 40% music but a lot of it really leadership, and those are important skills to impart."

Ofentse Pitse, Conductor

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