Three concerts representing a wide variety of symphonic literature from Tallis to Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Sibelius and William Walton are designed to make the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Autumn Symphonies at the City Hall as diverse and compelling as possible.
The season begins on 3 April 2025 with Bernhard Gueller on the podium. Israeli pianist Yaron Kohlberg will perform the Piano Concerto no 3 by Prokofiev, with Weber’s Freischutz overture and a selection from the much loved ballet Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky completing the CPO part of the programme. The concert will begin with a curtainraiser by the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, in which Liam Burden will conduct Rimsky Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnole.
On 10 April 2025, the foremost National Youth Chor (UK) will present Walton’s Belshazzer’s Feast with other works by Parry, Grainger and Tallis/Chilcott. Nicholas Chalmers, one of Britain’s leading young conductors, will be on the podium for his single Cape Town orchestral appearance and joining the choir in some of the pieces will be the award-winning choir of Fezeka High School. The soloist in Belshazzar’s Feast will be William Berger.
Final concert – and more
The final concert of the season is two weeks later, on 24 April 2025, when the internationally feted South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha returns home to sing Strauss’s Four Last Songs. Kamal Khan will be on the podium for the 2nd Symphony by Sibelius and the Carnival Overture by Dvorak.
The CPO is also involved in many Easter concerts like Messiah on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, as well as the Faure Requiem at the Toringkerk in Paarl on Easter Saturday. The CPO with Andrea Bocelli on 16 April 2025 is sold out but tickets are available for the CPO accompanying Lebo M at Grand West Arena on 18 April 2025 at Ticketmaster.
What: Auturmn Symphonies at the City Hall
Where and when: From 3 to 24 April 2025 at the Cape Town City Hall
Tickets: Booking is open at Webtickets and Artscape Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695 (where discounted subscriptions are available)
WS
