Full newsletter: Len van Zyl competition this weekend, Radio broadcasts and Youth Celebrations!

The Len van Zyl’s Young Conductors to soar!

Christina McEwan

Cape Times

Competitions can really establish a musician and see a career soar. Winning Placido Domingo’s Operalia’s Gold was gold for the wonderful Pretty Yende; the Van Cliburn Piano Competition opened the doors for the glamorous Olga Kern, and the Mahler Competition taking place in Germany for the fifth time this May gave Gustavo Dudamel his springboard in 2004 to huge success!   While there are several national and international competitions for strings and piano in particular, there are not many opportunities for young conductors and this set Len van Zyl, a South African advertising executive who lived and became involved in the Philadelphia Orchestra in America, dreaming. The dream has become a reality with the 3^rd Len van Zyl Conductors’ Competition final round taking place at the City Hall on February 14 at 20:00. Not only will three talented young conductors compete for the prestigious title, but the concert also provides the opportunity for three brilliant young soloists – Jeffrey Armstrong (violin) and Leo Gevisser and Shaheel Kooverjee (piano) to play with the CPO.

Van Zyl’s dream started to take shape in 2009.

“The Philadelphia Orchestra was happy to come on board; Victor Yampolsky is a committed educator and had been involved in setting up the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra was delighted to become a partner. Three competitions on, it is gratifying to see what the Competition has done for the first winner, Brandon Phillips, who walked away with the first title in 2010. He’s now resident conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra as well as music director of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and invited to guest conduct all over the country. The second prizewinner, Xavier Cloete, is also making his name, and is conducting the CPO in two Valentine’s Day concerts.   And soon there will be a third winner.”

Eight young men (yes, only men made their way through the first rounds) are competing on Friday (Feb 12) for a place in the finals. What’s on offer is not only the title but a one-month internship with the acclaimed Philadelphia Orchestra (its music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin is one of the most exciting conductors today) and two months with Victor Yampolsky, arguably America’s leading conducting professor, at Northwestern University in Chicago. The prize also includes a ticket to America and accommodation on top of the peerless internships.

“Three competitions on, I am convinced we are offering a valuable opportunity. The entrants have increased each time, and for the first round in June this year we had nearly 30 entrants. Maestro Yampolsky gave each one a couple of masterclasses as each conducted to two pianos played by François du Toit and José Dias in the first round. Feedback from them was really positive and I think they all go away knowing they have benefited from excellent advice. Getting to the eight wasn’t easy amongst the talented young men and one woman. I hope that in the next competition in 2018 we will have more women!

“But what an eight,” he says. “They come from all over the country – Andre Oosthuizen from Potchefstroom, Schalk van der Merwe and Jaco van Staden from Pretoria, Russell Scott from Durban, Grant Snyman from Port Elizabeth, Reghardt Kühn from Stellenbosch and two from Cape Town – Chad Hendriks and Charl van der Merwe, both CPYO assistant conductors.

“These eight will all be tested on various theoretical aspects, receive one group master class, and then each will conduct from Debussy’s Quartet in g minor and Puccini’s I chrisantemi, performed by a string quartet, comprising mainly CPO principals Patrick Goodwin and Emina Lukin (violin), Jill King (viola), and Kristiyan Chernev (cello).

Yampolsky will be assisted by Bernhard Gueller, Richard Cock (who has been involved since inception) and Brandon Phillips to choose three of the eight to go forward to the finals on February 14 at the City Hall, after three rehearsals with the orchestra. They will also form the final adjudication panel.

The final concert includes the first movement of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and Rimsky Korsakov’s breezy Capriccio Espagnol; the 1^st movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor and Dvořák’s Noon Witch; and Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the overture to Wagner’s opera, Tannhäuser. The CPO, under the direction of Brandon Phillips, will then play the Festive Overture by Shostakovich before Van Zyl announces the winners.

Tickets from Computicket on 0861 915 8000/ www.computicket.com or Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695.  More information on the concerts luvuyo@cpo.org.za   or 021 410 9809.

Olga Kern starts her own International Piano Competition

Christina McEwan

Cape Times

Catching up with Olga Kern was not easy — she had just arrived back in her New York home and was about to leave for Nice within a couple of hours, before coming into Cape Town to play in the Cape Town Philharmonic’s 10^th International Summer Music Festival when I managed it! Ms Kern will play both the 3^rd Piano Concerto by Tchaikovsky and the Rachmaninov/Paganini Variations at the City Hall on February 11, when the CPO plays under the direction of Bernhard Gueller.

It was winning the Gold at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition in 2001 that set her on the world stage, and it the Olga Kern International Piano Competition that will pave the way for some other young people. “Van Cliburn was a hero to the Russians,” she said, “when he won the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. My parents adored him, and I entered the competition to meet him more than to win it. I was lucky – I did both and he became not only my mentor but my friend. He advised me on so many aspects of my life, especially my playing. He was a very special friend, and shared great stories with me. He was so good to my son, Vladislav, and me.” (Capetonians may remember Vladislav playing Mozart about 10 years ago, when his feet could barely touch the pedals! He is now 16, has won the International Bach Competition, is graduating from the Juilliard School of Music’s Pre-College course in New York, and wanting to embark on his own soloist/conducting career! He was born for the stage, she says!)

The Cliburn competition opened so much up to her, she says. “A good management, recognition, recording contracts and, of course, more and more engagements. So why not help others? The ideal opportunity came up last year. I have been playing with the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra for years, in good times and in bad financial times, doing benefits where required and helping them regain stability.   I love the atmosphere there – orchestra, the concert hall, the community and aboe all the desert and the huge mountains. It’s gorgeous there and grand nature is for me, very inspirational. The orchestra decided to start a piano competition and wanted my involvement.   So, not only does it bear my name, but I am artistic director of the competition AND chairman of the jury. I advise on all matters artistic. The competition, like the Cliburn and UNISA, make it possible for outstanding young artists without the financial means to come, since all expenses are paid for all competitors, who are eliminated down to 20 – 25 through You Tube screening auditions. Most of all, I look forward to identifying a young star, someone who will shine for years to come. I also look forward to hearing a work by a Scottish composer, Rory Boyle, that we have commissioned for the contestants to play. He has shared his thoughts with me and I know the work in progress will have a long life time in the world of concerti.”

Ms Kern is also president of the Van Cliburn Amateur competition which takes place before her competition in November.

Helping people is not new to here. With her brother Vladimir, also known to Cape Town audiences through his appearances as conductor in the International Summer Festival of which she was artistic director for many years, she has started a foundation to help young people around the world.

“I was so moved when we saw how giving three young Russian girls whose parents were simply not able to buy them concert clothes changed their performance outlook and gave them confidence. We give talented children scholarships and make introductions where we know they can help people get good teachers or make a good career move or move to great schools like in Imola in Italy or the Moscow Conservatory.” She hopes to get involved with the College of Music at UCT.

“There are so many talented children in South Africa who also need a helping hand,” she says.

She likes big projects. “I played all the Rachmaninov concerti and the Variations in Cape Town and then travelled to many places with them. I have done something similar with Tchaikovsky. Now it’s time for Gershwin and Barber, having just become an American citizen!”

The concert which also includes the Polonaise from Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky and the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz will be on February 11 at the Cape Town City Hall at 20:00. Since it is the opening of Parliament, patrons are advised to come up Christian Barnard Road from the Foreshore to Buitenkant and find parking there. The concert will not begin until all patrons are seated.   Booking information Computicket on 0861 915 8000/ www.computicket.com or Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695.  More information on the concerts luvuyo@cpo.org.za   or 021 410 9809. The concert will also be broadcast live by Fine Music Radio 101.3 and the dress rehearsal at 10:00 on the day of the concert will be open at a cost of R50.

Ms Kern will also play at La Motte on Saturday 11^th before embarking on a nationwide tour.

Donohoe back in the City

Cape Times February 3, 2016

CHRISTINA McEWAN

Peter Donohoe is a man who knows his scores, but just as much he knows his mind. And doesn’t mind speaking out.  He will be in Cape Town to play the 1^st Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto in the opening concert of the Cape Town Philharmonic’s 10^th International Summer Music Festival, sponsored by the City of Cape Town, on February 4. The CPO will play under the direction of Bernhard Gueller.

This is Donohoe’s third visit to South Africa – he was here on a nationwide tour in 1985 when it was when it was disapproved of in the UK. “I did it because I do not approve of being used politically by anyone. It’s why I perform in Israel and Russia and China. If they invite me, I will go, no matter what I think of the regime. I know enough about international politics to know that what we see and hear about is often over simplified and every single example of visiting a country without a full approval rating has been a revelation to me. I believe that keeping lines open through the arts and other connections does far more good than pressure through sanctions, which often harm the very people they are meant to protect. I am very happy to have seen for myself at least a section of the reality of South Africa in the 1980s, and am able to form my own opinions about such things on the basis of personal experience.”

Donohoe was here again in in the mid 1990s when he played Beethoven’s  Emperor Concerto with Bernhard Gueller, a partnership he is looking forward to repeating: “I loved working with Gueller very much and am only sorry it has taken 20 years to repeat the experience.”

On the subject of competitions for rising musicians, he says:  “Awarding a first prize when it is not justified undermines the integrity of the competition. I feel that a first prize should not be awarded if it is not warranted. It doesn’t do the young musicians any good if they are not ready. Winning competitions can be bad for careers – the ability of the winners to stand up to the total life change that includes the response of the media, the agents and the record companies. This is by definition short-termist.  Of course winning, when a first prize winner IS ready for what is coming can be the best possible assistance with the career, as long as they are ready,” he says. “I won a Silver Medal in the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition and I was not fully prepared for what happened to me, so if I had won Gold I may have become jaded and given up”.

He notes that it is very important to see that there is such a big difference between admiring a young pianist and expecting him to have a great career ahead of him on the one hand, and awarding the prize that could possibly ruin them on the other.

“It’s a kind of pastoral care thing that we experienced older musicians need to extend to the younger generation.  I guess that’s what the jury did for me in 1982 by awarding me joint Silver. I am glad they did it although at the time I viewed it differently, and politics were also involved. It was the time of the Cold War and east-west relationships were dangerous. I was also the audience favourite but since juries look for other qualities the audience favourite is often not the gold winner. “

Donohoe leaves Cape Town to play a recital with a Turkish theme in the International Mozart Festival in Johannesburg, before returning to the UK to pick up on what is his greatest relaxation at the moment.

“I have spent the whole of January practising Mozart – my next two years’ project – at the end of which I will record it. i needed something of a rest from public performance having played in Russia, South America, America and Germany in the autumn, with performances in the UK of course. So it has been a good relaxing break –  all his solo piano music and the concertos which are part of my life.  Mozart is possibly the greatest composer, one who fulfils my needs at my level of (hopefully) maturity. It’s actually fascinating to see Mozart from the retrospect of having played so many works from later in music history. My last recording projects were all the major piano solos works of Shostakovich and Scriabin so this is a very big contrast. It was Messiaen who told me to wait until I was sixty before exposing myself and the world to Mozart’s sonatas. I was a student of Messiaen many years ago and it still a surprise that a contemporary composer Messiaen should have had such a high regard and infinite respect and understanding of Mozart – they are so different. I followed his advice, partly because I had become associated with the 20th Century and Russian Romantic repertoire for the obvious marketing opportunities and I always had to work hard to persuade people to not to go for those concerti! I also took Messiaen’s advice and benefited from his wisdom on many different topics.”

As one of the foremost pianists of our time, Donohoe is in demand everywhere for his musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique, and performs with every worthwhile orchestra almost everywhere!   He holds seven honorary doctorates from British universities and was awarded a CBE for services to classical music in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List.

The concert on February 4 also includes the Roman Carnival Overture by Berlioz and the Dvorak Symphony no 6. Tickets  from Computicket on 0861 915 8000/ www.computicket.com or Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695.  More information on the concerts luvuyo@cpo.org.za   or 021 410 9809.

Full newsletter: Accent on the young – Masidlale, youthful composers, hearing impaired at rehearsal

Deon Irish on Scottish Flair on Tien and Tan (May 12)

SYMPHONY CONCERT,
Thurs 12th, City Hall;
CPO conducted by Arjan Tien, soloist Melvyn Tan; Puccini: Capriccio Sinfonico; Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No 1 in G minor, Op 25; Brahms: Symphony No 2 in D, Op 73.

The first of two concerts to be conducted by this frequent visitor to the City Hall podium was a sold out affair, the alluring programme being likely as much a drawcard as were conductor and soloist. But the concert did open with something of a rarity: Puccinis’s early essay in orchestration. Written in July 1883 as a 23 year old student, the piece was given three performances and then withdrawn by the composer. Material from it was to be used, to fine effect, in “La Boheme” a dozen years later. It proved a delightful opening to the concert, eminently listenable and full of colour and dramatic effect, marred only by some indifferent wind octaves. Thereafter, Mendelssohn’s lovely G minor piano concerto, played in personable fashion by Melvyn Tan, Singaporean by birth but Londoner by adoption. His elegant and refined sense of line is perfectly suited to this music – which, whilst indeed evincing an obvious debt to Haydn in its mannered charm, provides a foretaste of the sophisticated examples of the genre to be penned by Saint-Saëns a generation later.

The opening movement is characterized by moto perpetuo writing for the soloist punctuated by fiery orchestral outbursts. The work was conceived during the composer’s Italian journey in 1831 and written down in three days on his return to Munich. But, if there is nothing overtly Italian to be found in the writing, it certainly displays the sort of carefree, uncomplicated gaiety of a young man discovering new places and people. Tan’s performance was not without what the tennis commentators might term “unforced errors”; but these were of no consequence in an ebullient performance which demonstrated the lovely pianistic attributes of the writing: passage work of headlong impetus; harmonic progressions that provided generally familiar satisfaction but sufficiently occasional surprise; orchestration that discreetly accompanied but intermittently broke out in full-throated power. If there was a highpoint, it was the finale: played with consummate delicacy and considerable wit, Tan gave the solo line absorbing character through a theatrical treatment of gossamer light arpeggios and momentary alterations of pace. The resultant ovation was entirely appropriate. After interval came Brahms’ loveliest symphony, the gentle D major of 1877.

Brahms spent the summer – and that of the succeeding two years – at the village of Pörtschach , on Lake Worth in Styria. He hated sailing, but loved swimming and evidently took to the water at dawn each day. Surely it was one of those dawns depicted in the wonderfully misty and gentle opening of this symphony; the horns (do any instruments capture mist better?) giving out a semitone motive that is to be a seminal element in all the vast material to follow. The work is often termed the composers “pastoral” symphony; but it is not an appellation that is particularly helpful. It certainly has qualities of landscape, which is not the same thing, of course. And its charming melodies (Brahms said one had to be careful not to step on them by accident in Styria!) do hint of country music making and simple pleasures. And yet, during the same holiday, he wrote the frequently anguished motet “Warum est das Licht gegeben” and a little of the questioning uncertainty found in that piece is also apparent in the manner in which the overtly simple melodic material of the symphony is developed and altered: rhythmic regularity being torn asunder by alterations of stress and pulse; harmonic certainty questioned with variation, enharmonic progression and abrupt interruption. Indeed, not all can be idyllic in the lovely Styrian countryside for an artist who was perhaps never quite comfortable in his own persona and might continually have questioned why the Light had been afforded to him, to toil in its service. Brahms’ Styria is not Mendelssohn’s Italy. And that makes all the difference. These factors were well portrayed in a performance that was splendid and which Tien can regard as something of a personal triumph.

Balances were exemplary; phrasing carefully delineated, permeating much of the writing with a light, luminescent quality. He adopted an altered seating for the concert, with the second violins to his right: orchestral balances were intrinsically fine but, for the listener, the spatial sense was a trifle skewed, rather as if one was listening to a pair of speakers of not quite equal strength. Deon Irish

Full newsletter: Johan Botha Gala news, Chad is back and bravo to Brandon!

Full newsletter: 35th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition finals tomorrow

Belvedere Singing Competition chronicles the making of young opera stars

Christina McEwan

With  some  90 singers  from all over the world, including 15 from South Africa singing this week in the last rounds of the 35^th Belvedere Singing Competition in Cape Town on Saturday, there is huge pressure on them to be one of the 15 or so chosen on Thursday to singing in the final round.

The gala and prize-giving with the the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Kamal Khan on Satueday at Artscape at 6 pm.   The next round and the semi-finals take place at the Baxter Concert Hall until Thursday this week.

Kamal Khan, director of Opera at the SA College of Music at UCT, says: “The fact that the finals are being held here is a huge vote of confidence in South Africa .  “To establish a credible operatic career, young South Africans still need the Northern Hemisphere more than it needs them, but it is becoming clear with so many South Africans winning top prizes overseas that we are a country to be reckoned with”.

Recent winners, Khan says, include Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi  (second place) who is making a name for herself in Chicago, and of course Levy Sekgapane.  Both were taught by Van Schalkwyk, who has also taught many other young stars like Goitsemang  Lehobye  and Khanyiso Gwenxane. Other South Africans who have turned the spotlight on this country are  Pretty Yende and Musa Ngqungwana  as well as previous second prize winner Siyabulela Ntlale.

Winning a competition is not easy, and there are many pitfalls along the way, says Hanna van Schalkwyk, the Belvedere representative in South Africa. Van Schalkwyk is one of the organizing committee of three with Lize Thomas of Cape Town Opera and Louis Heyneman of the CPO.

“Singers make the mistake of thinking that if they have the voice, then the world’s opera houses will open their doors,” she says. “But it requires much more than that. If chosen or spotted, they need to be ready to step on those stages into virtually any role.  I often paraphrase Mimi Coertse who said that a singer is like a chair, and the voice is only one of four legs. Education, the ability to read music and musicality are the other three. Levy Sekgapane, last year’s winner, is one of the best prepared. He studied piano, sight-reads for a hobby, has such inner musicality and an amazing memory. No wonder he is flavour of the month in Europe!”

Van Schalkwyk notes that the arias chosen are critical.

“If you choose the wrong aria for your voice, you can be eliminated, facing not only disappointment but huge discouragement as well.  It can put a singer right off a career. This can happen without the right teacher. Singers must  put everything into one aria; so  much depends on the right choices a singer makes – the right aria, the right balance between nerves and confidence.”

There’s no second chance and while singers have the choice of 50 or 60 arias for their voice type (soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone), the choice must be made in conjunction with teachers.   Some competitions don’t allow a change to the registration form.  The Belvedere has two compulsory arias, and then the singer choses three more. Judges will chose what each one sings in each round. This means that in the finals there may be two singers with the same aria, since judges choose what they think is best suited to the singer.  This means that the orchestra librarian needs to prepare 300 or so arias on the off-chance they will be sung, while the five piano accompanists also need to know them all.

Khan points to the expense.   “With sponsorship, more and more of our young singers could compete abroad and we are grateful to organizations like the Richard Wagner Society, FOCTO and Excellence out of Africa who have made it possible for those who do.  With the finals in Cape Town, we have the chance to show how good our singers are and we hope that there will be a larger number the jury considers good enough to go forward to the next rounds,” says Khan.

Singers need to find their own way to auditions and then to the country where the finals are held. Once there, they are responsible for accommodation. The Belvedere is helping those coming from Europe with a grant towards airfare.  Many overseas governments offer bursaries or assistance, bringing lustre to their own nationalities.

What makes competitions like these so exciting is that talent is spotted at every level, and if a singer doesn’t sing as well as one would have liked on the day, a casting director may see great potential for an engagement.

Both teachers and coaches are critical to get the singer to this level.  Teaching and coaching go hand in hand,” Khan says, “and both play a major role in a singer’s success.  The secret, perhaps, is not to withhold information but to give it all to young singers and allow them to absorb and, over the years, implement. Another secret is to guide them in the right repertoire. Too often they sing works their voices are not ready for and can ruin them.

“The kind of relationship between coach and trainer is for the benefit of the singer, a marriage without exclusivity.  Someone like Pretty Yende benefits from good coaches all the over the world,” he says.

For Van Schalkwyk, the teacher teaches technique, the coach rounds students musically.  She also says that sometimes singers without the right teacher rely on the internet for interpretation ideas, and the result is that too often they imitate other great singers. “This is noticed at once, and the young singer is usually eliminated, “ she says.

“It has been an amazing ride,” says Van Schalkwyk, “and we had no idea what was involved, from raising R2 million from generous sponsors like the Rupert Music Foundation to Remgro, the Graham & Rhona Beck Foundation, the Hiemstra Trust, Naspers and Tsogo Sun and then the work really started!”

The first round wraps up today and the semi-finals will be held at the Baxter Concert Hall on Wednesday and Thursday.  UCT students are welcome free of charge to the Baxter rounds on presentation of student cards. 0861 915 0000.

CONDUCTOR: DANIEL BOICO

SOLOIST: MICHAEL THORNTON

BARTOK  THE MIRACULOUS MANDARIN SUITE, OP. 19

STRAUSS HORN CONCERTO  No. 1 in E FLAT, OP. 11

An avid chamber musician and a soloist recognized internationally,  Michael Thornton has been principal horn of the Colorodo Symphony since 1997. As a soloist, in addition to his regular appearances with the Colorado Symphony, Thornton has performed across the world including with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, Melbourne Musician’s Chamber Orchestra, the New Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria, and numerous orchestras in the US. He is also associate professor of horn at the University of Colorado in Boulder

Described by critics as “Dynamic, vigorous, exciting and imaginative – an undisputed star who combines magnetic charisma with a skilled technique”, Daniel Boico is Associate Guest Conductor of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a finalist and prizewinner at the Prokofiev, Pedrotti, and Cadaques International Conducting competitions; orchestras he has conducted include the New York Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,  of London, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, National Orchestras of Mexico and Costa Rica, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Spring season subscription renewals (four concerts) from August 22 to September 3. New subscriptions and single seats from September 19. Renew by September 3 or take out a new subscription before November 4 and be  in the draw to win dinner in a leading restaurant with Omri Hadari on November 8.

CONDUCTOR: DANIEL BOICO

SOLOISTS: YEVGENY KUTIK (violin), VIOLINA ANGUELOV (mezzo)

PHILHARMONIA CHOIR OF CAPE TOWN

Described by critics as “Dynamic, vigorous, exciting and imaginative – an undisputed star who combines magnetic charisma with a skilled technique”, Daniel Boico is Associate Guest Conductor of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a finalist and prizewinner at the Prokofiev, Pedrotti, and Cadaques International Conducting competitions; orchestras he has conducted include the New York Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,  of London, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker, State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, National Orchestras of Mexico and Costa Rica, Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Acclaimed for dazzling command of his instrument and its repertoire, the Russian-American violinist  Yevgeny Kutik’s communication hark back to the back to the legendary Romantic masters. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he moved to the US at the age of five, graduating with a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.  In recent years, his lauded CDs have added depth to a career which takes him from America to Japan, via much of Europe.

Born in Bulgaria, Violina Anguelov gradudated with her Performer’s Diploma in Opera from UCT under Sarita Stern. She won several prizes, including the the Adcock Ingram Music Prize and the Erik Chisholm Prize. In 2000, she made her European début as Dorabella in Così fan tutte in Hanover, and has sung more than 35 leading roles for Cape Town Opera, most recently in Maria Stuarda and Salomé.  She has sung in oratorio and concerts under the direction of conductors such as Sir Richard Bonynge, Sir Donald Hunt, Barry Smith and Kamal Khan.

The Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town was established in 1967 by John Badminton. Under its current music director Richard Haigh it continues to perform  great oratorios such as Handel’s Messiah annually and has worked with many great choral conductors such as Sir David Willcocks, Dr Donald Hunt and Nicholas Cleobury.

Spring season subscription renewals (four concerts) from August 22 to September 3. New subscriptions and single seats from September 19. Renew by September 3 or take out a new subscription before November 4 and be  in the draw to win dinner in a leading restaurant with Omri Hadari on November 8.

CONDUCTOR: OMRI HADARI

NEW APOSTOLIC CHURCH CHOIR

SOLOISTS: SIPHAMANDLA YAKUPA (soprano), ELIZABETH FRANDSEN (mezzo), LUKHANYO MOYAKE (tenor), MANDLA MNDEBELE  (baritone)

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 9 IN D MINOR, OP. 125, “CHORAL”

In 2015, Siphamandla Yakupa, a Cape Town Opera soloist, made her CPO debut as a soloist in the Duet concert,  which followed her European debut as part of the CTO tour of Porgy and Bess in Munich and Barcelona.  She was awarded her BA in opera at the University of KZN and her post-graduate diploma in opera at UCT. While at UCT, she sang in several productions followed by several with CTO. This year sees her in Europe once more with CTO’s Porgy and Bess and singing the role of Winnie in The Mandela Trilogy.

For the last 25 years, Elizabeth Frandsen has performed as a soloist in opera, oratorio, lieder, musical theatre and choral works but here and abroad.  In 2015, she sang in the Scriabin Symphony no 1 with the CPO.  She has also been chorus master for CTO and spent two years in Zurich at the International Opera School.  She has appeared under the baton of maestri Frans Welser-Möst, Sebastian Lang-Lessing and Thomas Sanderling. Amongst the roles she has sung are the leads in La Bohème, Verdi’s La Traviata and Menotti’s The Medium.

A finalist in the 2015 International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Amsterdam,  Lukhanyo Moyake in 2016 won the Emmerich Smola Prize in Landau, Germany. Since his graduation from UCT in 2011 when he joined Cape Town Opera, he has sung many roles for CTO both here and in Spain, where he sang Sporting Life in Porgy and Bess. He also sings Lieder and oratorio, as was heard with the CPO at Kirstenbosch earlier this year.

Mandla Mndebela received his Diploma in Opera from the Tshwane University of Technology where he studied with Pierre du Toit.   He made an acclaimed debut as Nelson Mandela in CTO’s  The Mandela Trilogy with Cape Town Opera at Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna in Italy in June this year, and has sung many other roles for Cape Town Opera, Black Tie Ensemble and Opera Africa, He has also performed in oratorio with the CPO and will sing in the Johan Botha gala in August.

The New Apostolic Church Choir has been a frequent partner of the CPO over the years, most recently performing in the Scriabin Symphony no 2 in 2015. Other appearances include the World Aids Day Gala concert.

CONDUCTOR CARLO PONTI

NARRATOR EVITA BEZUIDENHOUT

PROKOFIEV: PETER AND THE WOLF

BRITTEN: THE YOUNG PERSON’S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

A joint concert with the CPO and CPYO celebrates youth and the magic of music under the direction of Carlo Ponti, a leading Italian –American conductor known for taking audiences of all ages on musical journeys of unique interpretive depth. The winner of several Italian and American awards, Ponti has been associate conductor of the Russian National Orchestra since 2000. He has worked with many orchestras in Europe, the Americas and Russia, and at international festivals such as  Verbier.

The former  ambassador of Bapetikosweti, Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout,  is back with the CPO! South Africa’s most famous  white Afrikaner socialite and political activist, aka Pieter-Dirk Uys, will take to the stage to narrate one of the works in the symphonic repertoire most beloved by  audiences of all ages.

CONDUCTOR: OMRI HADARI

SOLOISTS: NETTLE AND MARKHAM (piano)

RUY BLAS OVERTURE

MENDELSSOHN DOUBLE PIANO CONCERTO  IN E

SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY No. 5 IN D MINOR, OP. 47

His first concert in Cape Town, after an absence of several years, marking 175 Years of South African Jewry in February ensured that Omri Hadari  would  return.  He was music director of the CTSO in the late 1980s, and has been principal guest conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, principal conductor and music adviser of the Ashdod Chamber Orchestra and music director of the “Classica” Chamber Orchestra Hadera, both in Israel, In recent years, he has been having great success in Turkey where he conducted several of the major orchestras.  Hadari started his career as a trumpeter, becoming one of Israel’s finest.

For nearly forty years, British pianists Nettle and Markham have been performing together, bringing expertise and experience to concert halls around the world. Their vitality, remarkable ensemble, infectious enthusiasm and musical integrity ensure their continued popularity and the duo has appeared in more than 35 countries. Graduates of the Royal College and the Royal Academy respectively, David Nettle and Richard Markham joined forces in four-hands on one or two pianos, sometimes on their own Pleyel Double Piano.  Their discography will see the inclusion soon of the complete works for four hands by Schumann and Saint-Saëns.

CONDUCTOR  & SOLOIST HOWARD SHELLEY (piano)

SYMPHONY NO. 35 IN D, K 385, “HAFFNER”

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 18 IN  B – FLAT, K. 456, “PARADIS”

PIANO CONCERTO NO.20 IN D MINOR, K. 466

Howard Shelley has become a household name around the world, thanks in large part to a highly acclaimed discography of over 150  CDs.  As a pianist , conductor and recording artist, Shelley has enjoyed an illustrious career since his highly acclaimed  London debut in 1971. Now , the musical  legend will be appearing at the annual Friends of Orchestral Music  Gala at Cape Town City Hall.  Shelley is not  only a concert pianist, but also conducts from the Keyboard, ” I was fortunate that I was asked to direct a Mozart piano concerto from the keyboard in a concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, ” he says. “That gave me the opportunity to develop as both a conductor and soloist. It is now the way of performing that gives me the greatest  pleasure, and, although I play and record a very wide repertoire directing from the keyboard, the Mozart piano  concertos  are perhaps  the most perfect works to perform in this way”,

Shelley has a special relationship with Mozart’s works, “In his short life, Mozart wrote more than 20 concertos, of which 12 of the greatest were composed in just three years in Vienna,” he continues ” The two that we feature in this concert come from this period; one was written for the blind pianist, Maria Theresia von Paradis, and the other one of Beethoven’s favourite”.

Booking for FOM members open;  General booking opens on August 1

CONDUCTOR BERHARD GUELLER

SOLOISTS JOHAN BOTHA (tenor)

GOITSEMANG LEHOBYE (soprano), BONGIWE NAKANI (mezzo), MANDLA MNDEBELE (bass)

South Africa is proud to boast many opera singers who are well established o n the international stage. One of the prominent singers today is Johan Botha. Like Mimi Coertse before him, Botha has been a Kammersanger since 2004, a coveted title awarded to only the best in Austria. That Botha is one of the most important singers of our time is indisputable. The vocalist studied in South Africa, made his debut in Roodepoort and then in 1990 moved to Europe. Name any leading opera house, and he has sung there — Vienna and New York, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Paris, Sydney, Salzburg and Chicago. He also sings at concerts around the world, under the batons of conductors like Barenboim, Bychkov, Dohnanyi, Gatti, Gergiev, Janssons, Levine, Maazel, Pappano, Petrenko, Welser-Most, Thielemann, Young and many others. The concert will  feature a wide variety of arias and other works.

Hugo Lambrecht Music Centre

ATKV Musiqanto vocal competition final rounds

Conductor Brandon Phillips

Soloists : 5 young singers

The final round of the ATKV Musiqanto vocal competition, crowning the most talented singers between the ages of 18 and 35 nationwide, will take place at the Hugo Lambrecht Music Centre in Parow on September 24 a 19:00. Entry is free, but reservations must be made in office hours to Louisa van Rensburg on 011 919 9009/ afterhours Ilse Schürmann on 082 851 7157. Entry to the second round with piano accompaniment the day  before from 11:00 is also free; no booking required.  Prize money is more than R90 000.More information from ilsecat@vodamail.co.za