A brand new choir, four fabulous soloists, a praise singer and a conductor celebrating his 75th birthday will join together for the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s An African Celebration on 28 September 2023, says PETA STEWART:
Says CPO Chief Executive Louis Heyneman: “As an orchestra for all committed not only to flagship symphony concerts, variety galas, schools’ concerts and supporting opera and ballet, we have also supported choral music but decided the time was right to go further. Robert Maxym, the American composer, arranger and conductor was turning 75 and also marking 30 years of living and working in South Africa so to mark this event we are presenting some of his music.”
It’s a story of collaboration and negotiation, beginning with what excerpts, where to get the music and what rights had to be paid.
There are three pieces in the concert, a suite from Children of Africa, an opera composed by Jacqueline Martens and orchestrated by Maxym; Siyakuhulekela: A Dramatic Zulu Wedding Scene for praise singer, choir and orchestra which is an original Maxym work, and excepts from the opera uShaka KaSenzangakhona which took the world by storm some thirty years ago.
Finding the soloists wasn’t the problem because we are blessed with fabulous voices in Cape Town, says Heyneman. Finding the right choir posed a challenge so the CPO appointed its Youth Development Coordinator Nolizwi Monica Dadase and mezzo-soprano Bongiwe Nakani Mcetywa (pictured above) to do just that. Friends for a decade, the two set about this and Bongi single-handedly chose 15 of each voice group to make up what is a powerful choir, judging from the first orchestral rehearsal in mid-August. Monwabisi Mbanani was chosen as choir-master, and Tina Mene as soprano soloist, Bongiwe as mezzo-soprano, Luvu Maranti, who is one of the participants in Operalia at the end of this year as tenor and Luvo Rasemeni as bass baritone. The praise singer, Mongi Brian Mzobe, is a veteran from Gauteng.
The choir has been called the CPO Afri-Arts Choir and its first rehearsals were held early in July; they will meet weekly until the main orchestral rehearsals begin in the last week of September.
Hunger for singing
For Bongiwe it was all about filling a need.
“There’s a hunger out there for singing and I am in constant touch with many who miss singing, choral music or indigenous music like uShaka in particular. I approached a few who used to sing with Cape Town Opera to sing with us which is for them a dream come true. They’ve been sitting at home for a couple of years now doing odd jobs yet they are such talented singers who wish to be on stage again.
We also approached a handful of current CTO singers. Then there’s UCT – I came across many students while singing in Opera UCT’s and the CPO’s Sara Baartman last year and now we have ten students in the choir. Pairing the students with experienced singers, some of the best in the city, has been so meaningful for them.
“The rest of the choir is comprised of singers from community choirs who are super excited to be part of this project. They sing with, for instance, BongiLizwi Music Education Organisation that Nolizwi and I started the years ago. We’ve watched them grow along with is, because we were just idealistic young women, clueless but with drive. We had this fire in us, we could see the bigger picture even though we did not know how and where to start but we had this dream of changing how the world sees black community singers like us. The high school choir Nolizwi was in during high school at the time was conducted by Bonisile Thombela, who is now our CPO Afri-Arts Choir quality assurer.
“We didn’t know anything about funding and administration, so we just jumped right in with BongiLizwi, organising concerts for children in the townships, assisting schools in preparation for competitions, all for free. With money earned while I was singing in Vienna and with Nolizwi teaching, we could rent better halls, pay the pianist and see the quality increase. Seeing these young children from disadvantaged backgrounds singing for the love of it was heartwarming.”
Says Heyneman: “We see this as an investment. We need a dedicated choir in Cape Town, we need to put our money where our mouth is and show we are truly a multi-functional orchestra, and we need to show all Capetonians that we are truly an orchestra for all. It’s been a joy to see this come together and it could not have been done without Bongiwe and Nolizwi.”
What: The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra; CPO Afri-Arts Choir, Soloists, Praise Singer and conductor Robert Maxym
Where and when: City Hall 28 September 28 at 7.30pm; pre-concert talk at 6.45pm; open dress rehearsal at 7pm on 27 September at the City Hall (not on the day of the concert)
Tickets: Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 and Computicket. Dress rehearsal: Quicket
WS
