CPO Symphonic Masterpieces in Miniature! After seven months in lock-down, the musicians of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra have broken out and gone live … and you can see the results streamed from 5 to 30 November 2020.
Four chamber music concerts, supported by the City of Cape Town, were recorded in October at Erin Hall, Rondebosch, in front of a very small, socially distanced and appreciative audience. The works they performed showcased the musicians in a chamber music environment, allowing them to show they are just as skilled in an intimate work as in a huge symphonic one.
Says CEO Louis Heyneman, “this was the only way we could ensure our supporters could hear good music which our musicians loved performing. It was, at the time, the only way in which we could perform in front of a live audience. We are recording two symphony concerts for streaming in November but until our usual venues open to audiences out hands are tied.”
Works included some of the most loved pieces of the symphonic repertoire which were arranged for chamber groups. This is a chance to hear repertoire as you may never have heard it before – Beethoven Concerti, Mozart Clarinet Concerto, Elgar’s Cello Concerto, all with a string quintet.
Concerts feature almost every single CPO musician and its two guest concertmasters Farida Bacharova and Suzanne Martens, all of whom are eager to perform live once more. The CPO is augmenting the line-up with some of its popular soloists: pianists Nina Schumann and Albie van Schalkwyk and two superb young pianists, Qden Blaauw and Mike Wang. New to the CPO is the brilliant young clarinettist Féroll-Jon Davids (pictured above), a student at the University of Stellenbosch, who will perform the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with a string quartet.
CPO Symphonic Masterpieces in Miniature full programme:
November 5 to 9 streaming from 8pm
Mozart Serenata Notturna K 239
Mozart Symphony no 40, K550, arranged for wind quintet
Shostakovich Chamber Symphony (Op 110b)
November 12 – 16 streaming from 8pm
Mozart Overture, The Magic Flute, arranged for Brass Quintet
Beethoven 2nd Piano Concerto with Qden Blaauw (piano) and string quintet
Beethoven 1st Piano Concerto with Mike Wang (piano) and string quintet
November 19 – 23 streaming from 8pm
Bach Orchestral Suite no 2 in B Minor with Gabriele von Dürckheim (flute) and string quintet
Elgar Cello Concerto with Peter Martens (cello) and string quintet
Beethoven Symphony no 2 arranged by the composer himself for piano trio – Albie van Schalkwyk (piano), Suzanne Martens (violin) and Eddie McLean (cello)
November 26 – 30 streaming from 8pm
Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Féroll-Jon Davids (clarinet) and string quartet
Brahms Piano Quartet Op 25 in G minor with Nina Schumann (piano)
Tickets: Online subscriptions for the four concerts are R320, and single tickets R100 each. Book here
WS
