Les Amateurs Virtuoses, the acclaimed French piano festival, will present its 10th anniversary season in Cape Town – fresh from festivals in Paris and Shanghai.
The festival, which offers performance platforms to many of the best amateur (and professional) pianists in the world, will bring 24 pianists from nearly 10 countries.
Included in the line-up are some of Cape Town’s premier pianists, who will present master classes and perform chamber music in the city, townships and Stellenbosch, says Julien Kurtz, the founder and himself an amateur classical pianist with a wide reputation, particularly in France.
The festival’s finale, with six pianists and movements from five piano concertos, will be with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Boico. This concert takes place at the Cape Town City Hall on Sunday, 18 November 2018 at 6pm.
“Les Amateurs Virtuoses is a travelling festival and has been all over the world. Yet, in people’s minds, classical music usually belongs to Europe, Asia or America. I was thrilled to discover the outstanding standards of the classical music scene in South Africa. There are amazing opportunities for us, and for the first time we will be playing in a township, and performing with a world-class orchestra,” he adds.
Les Amateurs Virtuoses Cape Town
Concerts will be held daily from 10 to 18 November, mainly at the Baxter Concert Hall at 7.30pm, while the concert on 11 November 2018 will be at 4.30pm at the Endler Hall and the final festival concert on 18 November with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra in the City Hall at 6pm.
One of the special events is Carnival of the Animals for four hands performed by Du Toit and Thomas Yu at the Guga S’thebe Cultural Centre in Langa on 17 November at 2.30pm.
Two concerts, on 10 and 17 November in Langa will also feature a group of 40 from the Muzukidz not-for-profit organization, which teaches violin to children from disadvantaged townships around the Cape Town.
Master classes take place at the Endler Hall presented by Jan Hugo, and at the Baxter Concert Hall with Francois du Toit, Albie van Schalkwyk, Phillip Fowke and Jan Gottlieb, respectively.
Works on the recital programmes cover the spectrum from sonatas, nocturnes, partitas and more from Bach to Chopin, Haydn to Milhaud and Mussorgsky, Brubeck and Gershwin to Prokofiev’s Cinderella.
The final concert features Julien Kurtz (France) playing the 1st movement of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 1, June Wu (US) performing the 1st movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto n°1 and Xavier Aymonod (France) performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.1, followed by Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue performed by Thierry Goldwaser (France) and Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, performed by Thomas Yu (Canada) and South African pianist and doctor Bernard Linde, from Stellenbosch.
See below where to buy Les Amateurs Virtuoses Cape Town 2018 tickets.
For more Cape Town concerts: https://weekendspecial.co.za/whats-on-in-cape-town-music-diary/
What: Les Amateurs Virtuoses Cape Town 2018 – French piano festival
Les Amateurs Virtuoses Tickets: www.computicket.co.za; CPO tickets 021 421 7695, http://bit.ly/LesAmVirt
Les Amateurs Virtuoses South Africa: https://www.pianestival.org
Les Amateurs Virtuoses 2018: infos@les-amateurs.org
WS
