With a children’s concert with Rob van Vuuren at Kirstenbosch on March 29 and the Easter celebration of the Gloria Vivaldi and Nelson Mass by Haydn in the Toringkerk in Paarl with Cape Town Opera on April 4 just after it’s Autumn Symphonies at the City Hall series begins on April 2, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra is reinforcing its reputation as the foremost, most versatile and busiest orchestra in Africa.
The Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concert will see a comedic side to classical music as Rob van Vuuren (see photo above) becomes Darth Vader, Superman and Indiana Jones – this will be as he tries to keep up with the fast-paced musicians of the CPO performing Peter and the Wolf, Star Wars, Raiders’ March from Indiana Jones, and selections from the Lion King, ET, Superman and Frozen. Expect much interaction with the audience at the concert on Sunday, March 29. It begins at 17:30 and tickets are at Webtickets HERE.
Tickets are still available for the CPO’s and CTO’s annual Easter Saturday collaboration at the Toringkerk in Paarl. Jan Hugo will conduct the celebration of Baroque and Classical which takes place on 4 April at 15h00. The CPO is joined by CTO’s House Soloists Brittany Smith (Soprano), Nonhlanhla Yende (Mezzo-Soprano), Lukhanyo Moyake (Tenor) Conroy Scott (Baritone) and Judith Neilson. Young Artists Khayakazi Madlala and Nica Reinke, as well as its Vocal Ensemble. Doors open at 2pm, seating is unreserved and tickets are available HERE.
With conductors Bernhard Gueller, Nicholas Chalmers and Arjan Tien, the five concerts in the Autumn Symphonies at the City Hall season begin on April 2.
- Leo de María, the exciting Spanish pianist who won the 2024 UNISA International Piano Competition, will open the season with the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninov; the soloists in the next weeks are
- Roelof Temmingh Jnr who will perform his father’s spiky Piano Concerto (April 9);
- Petrus Coetzee who will perform the Viola Concerto by Bartok (April 16);
- Dutch violinist Hawijch Elders who will perform the Violin Concerto by Sibelius (April 23) and the Cello Concerto No 1 by Shostakovich which will be performed by Peter Martens (April 30).
Main works on the programmes include the Symphony No. 104 “London” by Haydn; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, “Pathetique”; Mendelssohn’s Symphony-Cantata Lobgesang with soloists and the AfriArts Chorus and VOX Cape Town; Suites Nos. 1 and 2 from Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloë; and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6 in D.
Subscriptions for all five concerts which run on Thursdays from April 2 to 30 are available at Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 and single concert tickets are from Dial-A-Seat and Webtickets. Tickets for dress rehearsals, all at 11 on the same day with the exception of “Lobgesang” which is the previous night, Wednesday, April 15, are from Quicket. All concerts have talks by John Woodland or Albert Combrink at 18:45 and Maestro Chalmers will join Woodland on April 9 and 16. Entry is free to concertgoers
LOTS of good music to look forward to – thanks to the CPO!
WHAT: Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
WHERE & WHEN: See above
BOOKING: See above
INFO: VISIT | Shirley Gueller E shirley@cpo.org.za
