Extravagant, elegant and moving. That's how American conductor Roderick Cox was described as he led the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) in a show-stopping performance at the Linder auditorium on Wednesday night.
Audiences gathered in their hundreds to watch the momentous performance where the full JPO was conducted by Cox and Russian-American concert pianist Olga Kern.
Moments earlier, the City of Johannesburg announced its plan to donate R10 million to the struggling orchestra. Simultaneously another substantial amount was donated by an anonymous fan.
The event was a relaunch of the orchestra to showcase its new look and vision following a shuffle of its management. New board members include former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke and former Bongani Tembe.
The R10m is the largest amount received by the orchestra in its history.
The city's mayor Herman Mashaba, was flanked by Moseneke and Tembe, when the announcement was made.
"A working orchestra is vital to my project of saving the city of Johannesburg," Mashaba told Huffpost SA on the sidelines of the event.
"The city needs them."
Moseneke said it was important that original African compositions were included in the orchestra's future.