The 10th Cape Town International Summer Music Festival, which is generously supported by the City of Cape Town for the second year, will take place at the Cape Town City Hall in February.
Concerts by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra include the complete Beethoven Piano Cycle with local hero François du Toit over two nights on February 24 and 25, and a Jewish Community Gala concert on March 3.
Distinguished conductors Bernhard Gueller, Victor Yampolsky and Omri Hadari are on the podium.
- Gueller will be joined on February 4 by the brilliant pianist Peter Donohoe performing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no 1. Also on the programme will be the overture to Roman Carnival by Berlioz and the Symphony no 6 by Dvořák.
- The soloist in his second concert on February 11 will be Olga Kern (see photo), the scintillating pianist whose popularity knows no bounds. She will play both the 3rd Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninov, while the CPO will play the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky and the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz.
- Yampolsky takes up the baton for the next three concerts. The first one, on February 18 features the compelling British violinist Jack Liebeck, who will play Bruch. Also on the programme are the tone poem Don Juan by Richard Strauss and the Fourth Symphony by Brahms. On February 24 and François du Toit will play the Beethoven piano concerti 1, 2, and 4, followed by 3 and 5, the “Emperor”.
- The final concert in the season features Israeli pianist Aviram Reichert playing the Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue. Omri Hadari, former principal conductor of the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, will return to the podium to conduct the overture to Bernstein’s opera, Candide, and the Second Symphony by Rachmaninov.
In addition to these concerts, there are many festival add-ons ….
- A Symphony of Ghazal celebrating the music of Jagjit Singh at Artscape Opera on February 6 at 20:00,
- a Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and CP Youth Wind Ensemble concert on February 7 at Artscape Theatre at 15:00,
- the finals of South Africa’s prestigious Len van Zyl Conductors’ Competition on February 14 at the Cape Town City Hall at 20:00, and
- Opera Bon-Bons with Goitsemang Lehobye and Lukhanyo Moyake at Kirstenbosch on Febuary 27 at 17:00.
TICKETS: from Computicket on 0861 915 8000 or Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695 with the exception of the Kirstenbosch concert which are available from Webtickets or the Kirstenbosch Ticket Office: 021 762 2866.
INFO: Luvuyo Kakaza luvuyo@cpo.org.za 021 410 9809 or visit
PHOTO CREDIT: Olga Kern, pianist, photographed by Chris Lee at Steinway Hall, 12/9/13.
