The Baton Forward is a DSAC/MGE-supported international market-access project led through Upliftment for African Holdings and centred on the international orchestral work of South African conductor Unathi Malunga.
The project starts from a reality that is easy to miss: conducting careers are not built on concerts alone. They are built through access to working orchestras; score preparation; assistant-conducting; sectional rehearsal leadership; artistic mentorship; repeated rehearsal-room presence; professional relationships; documentation; visibility and the networks through which future engagements are made.
During 2026, The Baton Forward followed Malunga into European and Western Balkan orchestral environments, including her work as Assistant Conductor to Maestro Desar Sulejmani with the Western Balkans Youth Orchestra.
The project makes that underlying professional work visible. The project documents how sound is prepared, how trust is earned, how artistic relationships develop and how a conductor from South Africa builds credible presence inside international orchestral systems.
The longer-term objective is career infrastructure: stronger international relationships, market-ready photography and video, a professional electronic press kit and showreel, future booking pathways and sustained access to international orchestral networks.
The Baton Forward is not a study trip. It is structured professional market access.
Concerts are one outcome. Access, rehearsal-room experience, professional trust and sustained presence are what make future engagements possible.