Jan Hugo, the South African pianist opening the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Summer Symphonies at the City Hall on Thursday, 6 November 2025, has has a long history with the concerto he will perform, the 5th Piano Concerto by Saint-Saëns, “The Egyptian”.
“Just before I left at the age of 13 to study in Italy in 2004, I played the concerto with the Hugo Lambrechts Orchestra and on tour in South Africa. It is very special to me to perform it now, 21 years later, with the CPO, after having returned to live permanently Cape Town. I’ve come full circle in a way. It’s like going back in time and seeing my own development through the lens of this concerto,” he says.
Hugo continues: “It’s a beautiful work, always a pleasure to play, and the fact that it was written on the African continent does give it some form of connection with us here, albeit on the other tip of Africa.
“The writing is quite classical, typically French, especially the 1st movement. Yet Saint-Saëns creates interesting sounds through surprising pianistic effects that foreshadow Debussy on the piano and that give this music an unmistakeable exoticness. It has an African touch, and yet is all done with great French spirit and panache.”
First of five concerts in the season
Also on the programme, which will be conducted by Arjan Tien, are Gideon Fagan’s Concert Overture and the Second Symphony by Rachmaninov, a work which Tien says has all the connections between culture, personal circumstances and global/political issues, “and forecasts the political rising unrest leading up to the 1917 revolution, (hence the hints, and dies irae theme), the memory of the “old” Russia (choral and massive bell-motives), the melancholy of his family in “exile” in Dresden while cherishing Russian values and customs.”
This is the first of five concerts in the season and which includes two galas – Mahler Symphony no 5 celebrating Bernhard Gueller and his appointment as Conductor Laureate on Saturday, November 22, and Louis’ Legacy, a tribute to the retiring CEO of the CPO, Louis Heyneman, in an all-Tchaikovsky concert and violinist Miclen LaiPang on Thursday, December 4. Gueller conducts both, along with the concert with Austrian pianist Philipp Scheucher and Beethoven Piano Concerto no 4 on Wednesday, November 26, while Tien also conducts the concert on November 24 with British violinist Jack Liebeck.
Jan Hugo, who is now Vocal Coach at Cape Town Opera, began his musical studies in Pretoria and made his concerto debut at the age of 12. He later trained in Italy, graduating cum laude from the Modena Conservatory and continuing his studies at the Accademia Pianistica di Imola. He holds Master’s degrees from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, the Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, and a specialised Master’s in fortepiano performance and research from Sorbonne University and the Paris Conservatoire.
What: Jan Hugo performs Saint-Saëns with the CPO
Where and when: Cape Town City Hall on 6 November 2025
Jan Hugo Tickets: Artscape Dial A Seat 021 421 7695 and Webtickets
WS
