Refreshing innovation with a nod to tradition is what Cape Town Opera will offer its patrons for 2025 – so says Artistic Director Magdalene Minnaar. BEVERLEY BROMMERT finds out more.
The company’s ever-resourceful Minnaar, fills in some details of the forthcoming productions, explaining, “We strive meticulously to achieve the right balance between the old and the new; it’s hard to please all the people all of the time, but we try!”
Before outlining the repertoire, she mentions a new initiative by CTO which is a universally reliable audience-pleaser, namely to make their experience of opera more affordable. This is the option of season packages which offer a 15% reduction in ticket prices, further details of which may be obtained by mailing jenniferr@capetownopera.co.za. Access to subscriptions is already available, and according to Minnaar, it is “flying,” with every promise of success as it expands.
SHORTS: A FESTIVAL OF POCKET OPERAS
As for the array of opera in prospect this year, after the traditional al fresco performance at Maynardville (already sold out), SHORTS: A FESTIVAL OF POCKET OPERAS opens on 7 March at The Wave Theatre (formerly the NewSpace Theatre) on Long Street, in the heart of Cape Town’s CBD.
Regarding the Wave venue, Minnaar comments, “As an alternative to Artscape’s Arena, which is closed for renovation, we are happy to use this 180-seater theatre for smaller operas and it will hopefully attract more new and diverse audiences.” Plans are under way to make it even more patron-friendly through collaboration with a restaurant chain to offer opera-suppers to audiences.
The variety of style, mood and content of SHORTS is considerable. This year’s collage of pocket-operas pushes even more boundaries than those of 2024, with the screening of films, choreographic language married to operatic performance, international contributions, workshopped pieces, collaborations and multiple directors (some based overseas, like South African Victoria Stevens who lives in Mannheim), some local, like Fred Abrahamse and Christine Crouse).
Each inclusion in this quintet of works is of short duration to gratify different tastes and obviate boredom, with familiar names like Bartók, de Falla, Janāček and Schumann cheek by jowl with those of less well known, more modern composers, among them John Kander, Judith Weir and Arnold Schoenberg.
ATLAS OF REMOTE ISLANDS
Minnaar is particularly enthused by the innovative ensemble piece, ATLAS OF REMOTE ISLANDS, in which the cast, directed by UCT lecturer in Drama Jackï Job, teases out the expressiveness of dance and movement to complement vocal performance.
Opera UCT’s Christine Crouse directs a double bill of song-cycles by Schumann and Janācek on the themes of love and loss, sung in German. The Schumann, composed for female voice with piano accompaniment, is a lyrical and intimate inclusion in SHORTS that will no doubt hold special appeal for lovers of chamber music.
TRIPTYCH: WOMEN AT WAR
Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer, no strangers to involvement in opera, bring their directorial experience to TRIPTYCH: WOMEN AT WAR. Three works are coalesced into an hour’s performance as three sopranos each undertake extended solos on the effect of war on women, from invaded England in the 11th century to the American Civil War of the 19th century. Composers are Kander, Weir and Schoenberg.
BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE
Victoria Stevens, internationally noted for her fresh approach to directing, takes on Béla Bartók’s BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE to inject some Gothic drama into the programme with popular baritone William Berger as the serial wife-killer and Siphamandla Moyake as Judith.
AIDA at Artscape Opera House
Regarding the rest of the year, AIDA, at the Artscape Opera House in May, is a highlight, to be directed by Minnaar herself. She is determined to eschew the clichés all too often attendant on traditional stagings of this potent love triangle in ancient Egypt, wanting rather to present an African perspective on an African story. “AIDA is a truly grand opera, a magnificent spectacle…I was just a teenager when I saw it at Loftus Versfeld Stadium with zoo animals, and the music was so visceral, it became an unforgettable part of my youth, it was magical. Everything about it was monumental – the singing, the orchestration, the staging, all larger than life.”
Scale of that grandeur is not feasible in the confines of a theatre, but there is another option, which Minnaar has identified in undertaking direction of Verdi’s masterpiece: instead of limited spatial grandeur, there is the limitless potential of temporal projection, and to this end CTO’s new production places AIDA in an imagined future, one thousand years from now.
Choreographer Gregory Maqoma
“We can only guess what Africa will be like in 3025, after the ravages of war and climate change,” she explains. To promote this futuristic vision, in addition to the resources of AV, she has enlisted the help of acclaimed choreographer Gregory Maqoma. “With Gregory on our creative team, we shall be able to explore the role of movement in opera; our singers will be a little out of their comfort zone as new avenues for expression through body language are opened up.”
She adds that pre-production has been ongoing for some months, casting is set, and rehearsals are due to start in April. New York based maestro Kamal Khan will conduct. Minnaar sums it up succinctly: “There will be some surprises in reserve!”
BARBER OF SEVILLE
A perennial favourite of the lighter operatic repertoire is Rossini’s sparkling BARBER OF SEVILLE, and it will be well served by the compact elegance of Theatre on the Bay. Direction by the witty and imaginative Sylvaine Strike promises to elicit all the vis comica of the work, complemented by her expertise in physical theatre. Innocent Masuku takes on the role of Almaviva in the wake of his triumph on Britain’s Got Talent.
Something traditional, something new, and even the traditional elements in CTO’s 2025 lineup will be enlivened by more than a dash of innovation. Surprises await.
Book your SHORTS festival package which includes all titles for as low as R600, by visiting www.capetownopera.co.za/season-ticket. Single performance bookings will be available on Webtickets on 31 January, 2025, starting at R160.
What: Magdalene Minnaar interview
Who: Cape Town Opera 2025
Follow: @capetownopera for more up-to-the-minute info
WS
