Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual VARIETY GALA, with conductor Brandon Phillips once again on the podium, has Ryle De Morny, star of Netflix’s Blood and Water, and a presenter on Top Billing, is Master of Ceremonies.
Trumpeter Mandisi Dyantyis, saxophonist Don Vino, guitarist Mauritz Lotz and a saxophone quartet from the Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre join the orchestra, who will play an impressive and eclectic mix of music.
Cape Town Opera soloists Brittany Smith, Lukhanyo Moyake and Conroy Scott, with soprano Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi and flautist Esihle Mthethwa, bring the classics to the stage. TikTok star Whitney April, who has racked up 216k followers and 2.2m likes, will sing her new single ‘Fighters’, while fellow vocalists Craig Lucas, Sasha-Lee Davids and Vernon Barnard will belt out favourite hits.
Afro-pop singer Zimbini Makwetu performs with Three Black Pearls and dancers from Jazzart. Oleksii and Michele, Golden Buzzer recipients on SA’s Got Talent, will enthral with their strength and precision, and the divine Ms Wendy LaRosa will strut her stuff.
- Expect surprises from Director AVIVA PELHAM and Musical Director STEFAN LOMBERG. Nessum Dorma on the guitar; ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ played on the flute as the ‘Bumblebee Boogie’, and a lip-sync spectacular of ‘Duetto buffo di due gatti’ (‘Humorous duet for two cats’). Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, sung in Afrikaans, will join Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’.
Says Louis Heyneman, CEO and Artistic Director of the CPO and the CPO Annual Variety Gala producer, ‘We have again achieved our goal to give opportunities to artists who have never performed with a symphony orchestra, while bringing back some beloved local icons.’
WHAT: CPO Annual Variety Gala
WHERE: Artscape Opera House, Foreshore, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: Fri 01 September @ 19H30
TICKETS & BOOKING: R150 from Artscape Dial-A-Seat on T 021 421 7695 or through Computicket
