Classical music: CPO Spring Cyber Symphony Concert Series 2021

What: Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Spring Cyber Symphony 2021 season – four concerts

Dates: September 16 to October 11, 2021 Tickets: Season ticket – R440 for all four concerts and R120 for single tickets Bookings: Quicket. Click here: Book tickets for SPRING CYBER SYMPHONY (quicket.co.za) Availability: Each concert is up for four days from the Thursday to the Monday  

Here we are in the second spring of lockdown, with the pandemic still very much with us. Under current lockdown regulations, 50 people may be accommodated in an indoor venue. As we know, with Rona, everything is subject to change. Committing to a hybrid format (live and online), for theatre/music is tricky. With that in mind, The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Spring Cyber Symphony 2021 is going out online, from September 16 to October 11 and features four pre-recorded concerts. The concerts are on Thursday nights. How it works is that each concert is on from 8pm on Thursday nights of the spring season (September 16 to October 11, 2021). The concerts are then available to watch until the Monday night at 11pm. During lockdown, the CPO’s online concert series has worked exceptionally well – with superb filming.  Each concert is accompanied by inserts – by the conductor and/or soloists – with insight into the music. It provides a wonderful intimacy to the experience. If you are viewing on a computer or phone, I suggest the use of ear phones. This blocks out peripheral noise and allows one to focus on the music. CPO’s principal guest conductor, Bernhard Gueller is conducting the first three concerts. Jeremy Silver, director of UCT Opera is conducting the fourth concert. For this season, there is a bonus. The Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Youth Wind Ensemble will perform curtain raisers.  The CPYWE is on the bill for the third concert. The CPYO is doing the curtain raiser for the 4th concert. Info as supplied:

The first concert

Concert 1, features Brandon Phillips in the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, allowing audiences to see a lesser seen side of the resident conductor of the CPO, conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and principal bassoon of the CPO. The main work on the programme, with Gueller is the Beethoven Symphony No. 1.  This concert streams from September 16 – 20.

The second concert

Concert 2, streams from September 23 – 27, and features Jordan Brooks, the talented young South African violinist, who is studying in the UK. He returned home for this exclusive performance. He performs the Korngold Violin Concerto, which was filmed in August the day before his 18th birthday.  Silver will also conduct two works by Ravel – Pavane for a Dead Princess and the Mother Goose  Suite.

The third concert

The CPYWE opens  the third Spring Cyber Symphony under the direction of Faan Malan, and performs a Folk Song Suite by Vaughan Williams.  Gueller conducts the CPO in a work that showcases woodwinds, horns and the lower strings, for there are no violins in Brahms’s Serenade  No 2 in A. Gerhard Joubert, who just garnered three prizes in the Johann Vos Music Competition, performs Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor. This concert streams from September 30 to October 4.

The fourth concert

The final concert in the Spring Cyber Symphony season will be streamed from October 7 – 11 and it begins with Brandon Phillips conducting in CPYO in Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.  Gueller then picks up the baton, and cellist Aristide du Plessis performs the Cello Concerto in B flat by Boccherini before the CPO brings the season to a close with Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony.

All programme notes will be available before each concert by clicking through from the cpo.org.za home page. The CPO reserves the right to change programmes or artists.

Each will be up for four days from Thursday to Monday from Sept 16 to October 11. 

The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s Spring Cyber Symphony 2021 season – four concerts

SPRING CYBER SYMPHONY NO 1 Streaming September 16- 20, 2021

Conductor Bernhard Gueller
Soloist Brandon Phillips (bassoon)  
Mozart Bassoon Concerto
Beethoven Symphony No 1

SPRING CYBER SYMPHONY NO 2  Streaming September 23 – 27, 2021

Conductor     Jeremy Silver
Soloist    Jordan Brooks (violin)  
Ravel Pavane for a Dead Princess
Korngold Violin Concerto 
Ravel Mother Goose Suite
Jordan Brooks, former CPYO concertmaster and now studying in the UK, is being brought back especially by a donor to perform with the CPO.  

SPRING CYBER SYMPHONY NO 3 Streaming September 30 – October 4, 2021

Curtain raiser: Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble
Conductor Faan Malan
Vaughan Williams Folk Song Suite    
Conductor Bernhard Gueller
Soloist Gerhard Joubert (piano)
Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor 
Brahms Serenade No 2 in A, Op. 16   

SPRING CYBER SYMPHONY NO 4   Streaming October 7 – 11, 2021

Curtain raiser: Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
Conductor Brandon Phillips
Beethoven Overture, Egmont    
Conductor  Bernhard Gueller
Soloist  Aristide du Plessis (cello)
Boccherini Cello Concerto in B flat, G 482
Mendelssohn Symphony No 4, “Italian”      

❇ Promoted post. Featured image: Brandon Phillips ( bassoon). Phillips is resident conductor of the CPO, conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and principal bassoon of the CPO.