On stage: The inaugural, Die Koelkamers Classical Music Festival in Paternoster, September 2021

On stage: The inaugural, Die Koelkamers Classical Music Festival in Paternoster, September 2021, with five concerts

It is springtime and Heritage Month and the fabulous news is that there is a new festival – Die Koelkamers Classical Music Festival. The festival is on from September 23-26, 2021 at Die Koelkamers – a venue at the Paternoster Waterfront which opened in March this year [2021] as a multi-purpose venue to host arts events, webinars, corporate events and seminars. The core focus is to provide a hub for the arts – live music, theatre and cultural events. Die Koelkamers is also an art gallery – with the art changing every three weeks. Jan Malan, who runs the venue with his business partner Greg Meyer, says that the vision is to make the space as a hub for the arts on the West Coast.  That is their core business and they are thrilled to be hosting the inaugural Koelkamers Classical Music Festival. They want to promote classical music to young people in the area and visitors who love the West Coast town of Paternoster. It is flower season, so combine music and the beautiful Paternoster. More about this cool new venue to follow. In the meanwhile, check out the fabulous programme of five concerts, which will be staged in person, in Die Koelkamers Theatre. By the way, to get to the Paternoster Waterfront, you go past the Paternoster Hotel, past the award winning Wolfgat Restaurant and head for the wharf and you will see Die Koelkamers, restaurant, a coffee shop, fish shop and an area where fresh fish is cleaned by fisher people from the area. Info as supplied.

PATERNOSTER’S KOELKAMERS THEATRE LAUNCHES INAUGURAL CLASSICAL MUSIC FESTIVAL.

The inaugural Koelkamers Classical Music Festival will take place from September Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 September at the Die Koelkamers at the Paternoster Waterfront (also referred to as the Crayfish Wharf). With five concerts, and a gala benefit to raise funds for the West Coast Youth Orchestra, the festival has covered the spectrum of classical music from flute to piano to voice to brass and woodwind ensemble.  All tickets are available on www.diekoelkamers.com

The festival kicks off on Thursday, September 23, at 18:00, with the West Coast Youth Orchestra, led by its artistic director, Carina Brown. The West Coast Youth Orchestra will present a programme which includes a variety of well-known ensemble works and exciting solo performances on an interesting range of instruments and genres.  This is also an opportunity for youngsters and parents to find out about the courses on offer at the West Coast Youth Orchestra. (Tickets R40 pp)

The following day, Friday, September 24, at 14:30, the West Coast Youth Orchestra will present a Heritage Day Concert. (Tickets – Standard R100/Premium R140) Also on Heritage Day at 17:30, acclaimed flautist Carina Bruwer and pianist José Dias come together in a celebration of chamber music:  An evening of flute & Piano. This world class duo is technically skilled and stylistically versatile, and will performs an exciting program packed with a selection of classical favourites! (Tickets – Standard R180/Premium R250).

The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra steps up on Saturday, September 25, at 17:00 with performances by the The CPO Wind Ensemble, the latest addition to the CPO’s brand. Its members will perform works by Mozart and Dvorak. (Tickets – Standard R150/Premium R210).

Saturday night, 25 September at 19:00 is gala night featuring the crème de la crème of South Africa’s classical talent. It’s a night of opera arias, duets and contemporary classics directed by Johan de Jager. Johan brought together the incredible talents of Lynelle Kenned (soprano) and Stefan Lombard (piano).  (Tickets – Standard R200/Premium R280)

The festival comes to an end on Sunday, September 26, with a rousing brass concert when the CPO Brass Quintet will bring you popular works like Ain’t Misbehaving and a Beatles Suite. This will take place at 14:30. (Tickets – Standard R150/Premium R210)

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CAPE TOWN PHILHARMONIC ENSEMBLES IN PATERNOSTER FESTIVAL 

Two ensembles from the Cape Town Philharmonic (CPO) have been invited to appear in the inaugural Die Koelkamers Classical Music Festival. The brand-new festival, the brainchild of Jan Malan, the South African entrepreneur that takes thinking outside the box to new levels, will take place in the idyllic West Coast seaside haven of Paternoster over the weekend of September 23 to 26, 2021.

Says Louis Heyneman, CEO of the CPO, “this is a marvellous opportunity for the CPO to appear outside its traditional venues and show the country that we are truly an orchestra for all.  Covid-19 has given us the opportunity to reach more people with streamed concerts such as our Cyber Symphony series and our schools video which is available free of charge and we are delighted to be able to have a physical presence, in front of a real audience, in this new festival”.

The CPO Wind Ensemble will perform on Saturday, September 25, at 17:00.

Established at the height of Covid-19, the group of wind players has already made a name for itself.  The ensemble, which will be conducted by its founder, wind band specialist Faan Malan, will perform Mozart’s Serenade no 12 in C minor, “Gran Partita”, the Petite Symphonie by Charles Gounod, Sinfonia by Donizetti, and Slavonic Dance Op., 46 no 8 by Dvorak. 

On Sunday, September 26, at 14:30, the CPO Brass Quintet will perform a selection of popular arrangements that will spread joy and happiness as they always do!  Works include a Beatle and Ain’t Misbehaving arrangements. Its members are all principal players in the CPO and CPYO — Dave Thompson and Paul Chandler (trumpet), Shannon Thebus (French horn) Slavo Mrazik (trombone) and Shaun Williams (tuba).

WEST COAST YOUTH ORCHESTRA: CARINA BROWN – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WEST COAST MUSIC ACADEMY

Carina Brown , executive director and principal of West Coast Music Academy says “ Our target groups are children, the youth, and young adults, and we strongly believe that any young person should have the opportunity to join our programmes regardless of their background, ability, or social economic status, because music education should be a right, NOT a privilege.”

Carina Brown is executive director and principal of West Coast Music Academy and the artistic director and resident conductor of West Coast Youth Orchestra. She enjoys a multi-faceted career as conductor, arranger, examiner, and educator. She received a BMus (UPE) in 1981 and has played in several orchestras, including SANYO (Flute & Piccolo). In 1983, she started a six-year successful tenure as conductor and arranger with Bellville High School Wind Band & Recorder Ensembles. After moving to the West Coast and expanding her family, she founded the West Coast Music Academy in 1996. The academy has grown to the largest private Music Academy in the West Coast, offering tuition in all instruments. In 2006, the West Coast Youth Orchestra was founded and registered as NPO (2013). It currently consists of various orchestras and five different interlocking programmes. Carina regularly acts as adjudicator at various Eisteddfods around the Western Cape. She is an International Rockschool Examiner (London, UK) and Senior Examiner / Moderator in South Africa (WCED).  In 2015, she received a Ministerial Award for Outstanding Achievement of Women in Arts & Culture and in 2018 the West Coast Youth Orchestra received the Department of Arts & Culture Award for Best Contribution to Performing Arts in Music. The group also won the Saldanha Municipality Youth Community Award for Youth Outreach & Development Programs. In 2020, the South African Society of Music Teachers awarded Carina the SASMT Award of Excellence in Music Education.

CAPE TOWN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

For 107 years, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra has been the foremost orchestra in Africa. The most active one in the country, the CPO is also extremely versatile, performing with the foremost local and international artists that include world acclaimed opera stars, Pretty Yende and the late Johan Botha, songstresses Lira and Melanie Scholtz, Freshly Ground, and violinists Joshua Bell and Shlomo Mintz.  The CPO is also the indispensable partner to Cape Town Opera locally and internationally and Cape Town City Ballet, accompanies international visiting companies, accompanied the finals of the International Hans Gabor Belvedere International Singing Competition in 2016 and performs in musicals such as West Side Story. In addition to this, the CPO plays choral, pops, rock, and family concerts. It also provides performance opportunities to community stars. This all adds up to, in-pre Covid times, a staggering 130 performances per year in traditional venues such as the City Hall and Artscape Opera, community halls across the region and outdoor venues such as the Endler Hall, Oude Libertas Amphitheatre and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens.   

The orchestra runs a vast outreach and community programme that includes two acclaimed youth orchestras (the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble) as well as junior and intermediate string orchestras and grassroots training projects with several hundred students from various townships. This programme, Masidlale (from the Xhosa word “let us play”), produces a widening community reach and is part of the skills’ transfer circle in which young musicians are on a career track to a professional career, assisted by the CPO’s own musicians.  In 2020, the CPO added the Cape Town Philharmonic Wind Ensemble to its umbrella of ensembles.

In times of Covid, it has remained the foremost orchestra in South Africa with a series of streamed Cyber Symphonies which have given it a local, national, and international footprint.

The orchestra is also part of international culture through its CDs.  These include Mahler and Wagner songs with Hanneli Rupert (Bernhard Gueller, conductor), the Schnittke oratorio Nagasaki and two symphonies (no 0 and 9) and a double CD of orchestral masterpieces, with Welsh conductor Owain Arwel Hughes, the Barber and Korngold violin concerti with Alexander Gilman (Perry So, conductor), which won a Diaposon d’Or, and four Spohr Clarinet concerti with Maria du Toit and Arjan Tien, conductor.  Its latest CD is with cellist Peter Martens (Bernhard Gueller, conductor).  The CPO’s DVD of all the Beethoven Piano Concerti with pianist François du Toit and Victor Yampolsky (conductor) was released in 2017. 

ANNUAL CLASSICS GALA BENEFIT: STEFAN LOMBARD – PIANO

Stefan was a 16-year-old pianist when he made his solo debut with the CAPAB orchestra. He completed his BMus degree in piano performance at the University of Cape Town under Lamar Crowson and Laura Searle, and at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, England.

Stefan was an accompanist and coach at University of Stellenbosch, majoring in vocal performance. He was repetiteur for Cape Town Opera and worked on various independent opera productions, recitals, soirees, and concerts. Stefan was musical director and arranger for Divine Divas, culminating in the official UK debut in a performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

He has orchestrated, musically directed, and recorded with the Wellington Sinfonia in New Zealand for the production Twelve Irish Tenors that toured to Holland, Scandinavia, and Monte Carlo.

Stefan has covered a wide range of classical chamber music and concert repertoire. He has performed with the leading orchestras in South Africa both as soloist and orchestral instrumentalist. He also devised, compiled, and directed many Gala Concerts for special events and festivals, working with top local and international performers.

Solo concerto performances with orchestra include a performance of the Beethoven Choral Fantasy, the Beethoven Triple Concerto and the rarely performed Mozart Concerto for Violin and Piano. He held an official accompanist position at University of Stellenbosch for 3 years, was an ad hoc coach for Cape Town Opera and guest chorus master and coach for Gauteng Opera.

He was one of the musical directors and arrangers for the popular Divine Divas, culminating in a performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Stefan orchestrated, conducted, and recorded with the Wellington Sinfonia in New Zealand for the production Twelve Irish Tenors that extensively toured to Holland, Scandinavia, and Monte Carlo.  He was the musical director/pianist and conductor for the original production of African Angels (staged concert performance of The Cape Town Opera Chorus), touring Europe, as well as opening the prestigious 2016 Aix en Provence Festival in France.

Stefan also branched out into musical theatre with the first South African musical to tour internationally, the musical CATS, which he conducted in Lebanon, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, China, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Qatar. Other productions include Phantom of the Opera, two seasons of Chicago, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, CABARET, and the Fugard Theatre production of the Rocky Horror Show, for which he won the 2015 Naledi award for Best Musical Director.

As conductor, he made his official debut with the Cape Philharmonic orchestra conducting Cape Town Opera’s Show Boat, which was nominated for a UK Theatre Award. Stefan conducted the London Palladium touring production of The Sound of Music in Hong Kong, China and Indonesia, and the local David Kramer musical Orpheus in Africa. Most recently he was associate musical director/conductor and keyboard player of the original restaging of the musical Evita, performing in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

Stefan enjoys exploring the boundaries, merging of different styles and working towards making music accessible to a wider audience base. He stays constantly busy as pianist, conductor, chamber musician, musical director, and arranger

ANNUAL CLASSICS GALA BENEFIT: LYNELLE KENNED – SOPRANO

Lynelle Kenned, graduate of the UCT Opera School under the tutelage of Prof Virginia Davids, is a Multidisciplinary Performing Artist, TV Presenter, Corporate MC, Actress and Media personality.

Her list of awards include the Kunste Onbeperk YOUNG VOICE 2019, a 2018 Naledi Award, a Fiësta Award in 2017 and a Fleur du Cap Award in 2016.

Performances include Maria in “West Side Story”, Maria in “The Sound of Music”, Mattie Allen in “Orpheus in Africa”, Musetta in “La Boheme”, Julie in “Showboat”, Cherubino in “Le nozze di Figaro”, and Grace in the world première of “Calling Me Home”. Classical performances as soprano soloist include The Messiah, Easter Oratorio, St Matthew Passion, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Brahms’ Requiem, Handel’s Gloria and the Gloria by

Vivaldi.

Since 2012, she’s been a television presenter on “Pasella”, hosting “Jý Geld”, “123 Fixit” and “Uit die Spens” on KykNET and VIA.

Memorable career highlights include the FNB/RMB Starlight Classics, live broadcasts of Dancing with the Stars and the KykNET Fiëstas, performing with Welsh crossover superstar Katherine Jenkins, and receiving master classes with Juilliard’s Brian Zeger.

ANNUAL CLASSICS GALA BENEFIT: JOHAN DE JAGER – TENOR

Johan de Jager studied singing at the University of Pretoria, under Inca Polic, who performed with Mimi Coertse in Vienna, as a mezzo soprano. He started off as a bass baritone and as his technique developed migrated to a lyric baritone and whilst singing “Largo Factotum” from the Opera Barber of Seville, one evening at Wits University, he was informed that he sang the high A note with ease, and then his voice migrated to that of a Tenor.

Johan sang “e luce van le stele” from the opera Tosca, in 1983 and was awarded singer of the year at the Eisteddfod in Johannesburg, South Africa.  He went on to represent South Africa at an International Eisteddfod in Llagollen, Wales, United Kingdom, where again he won in the tenor category, singing “non piangere Liu” from Turandot. Johan returned from Europe and joined the corporate world. He kept on singing at various events across South Africa.

AN EVENING OF FLUTE & PIANO: CARINA BRUWER

Carina Bruwer is an internationally recognised flautist, whose fusion of Classical precision, idiosyncratic improvisation skills and soulful interpretations is rarely associated with this instrument. Carina has recorded on dozens of albums, performed in 15 countries both solo and as part of various ensembles and bands, and won numerous awards for her work across the board, from purely Classical to crossover, instrumental pop and contemporary.

Carina received the degree BMus (Hons) cum laude from the University of Stellenbosch in 2003, majoring in solo performance and winning numerous awards and bursaries throughout her studies. She also holds a UNISA Performers Licentiate which she received with highest distinction. While a student at the Stellenbosch Conservatoire, she annually received academic excellence awards, numerous Conservatoire prizes and bursaries, and in 2002 she was awarded Academic Colours from the University. During her final years at University, she took Jazz lessons and performed with local Blues and Jazz artists to broaden her musical palette.

As a soloist, Carina has won numerous music awards, including the ATKV Muziq Category Prize, Distell Music Prize, Huguenot Prize, UNISA Overseas Study Bursary runner-up prize, plus various SAMRO prizes and a Kanna award nomination. She has performed as soloist with the Cape Philharmonic, Kwazulu Natal Philharmonic and University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestras.

In 2008 she founded Sterling EQ, with a consistently busy diary taking her across the world. This all-woman three-piece is known for changing the face of instrumental music in South Africa and beyond with their extraordinary fusion of virtuosity and fresh beats. The group boasts four successful releases – all of which were executive produced by Carina – plus 3 major music awards (SAMA, Tempo and Ghoema Awards), over 1000 live performances since 2008, and thousands of followers worldwide. They have performed in 15 countries and for live audiences of up to 40,000, and on live broadcasts to millions of global television viewers, collaborated and shared stages with international artists, and received reviews form international publications such as The Guardian (UK), while regularly receiving song submissions from top international songwriters and instrumental music producers.

Other highlights include directing and touring her own Classical crossover productions, performing and recording for diverse musical groups (most of which she also managed), including Afro-Cuban Salsa band Salsa Candela, the light-Classical ACE Quartet, and flamenco group Casta Alma; appearing as guest soloist with various groups and orchestras including The KZN Philharmonic and Cape Philharmonic, and doing sessions for various artists across the world.

AN EVENING OF FLUTE & PIANO : JOSÉ DIAS

Portuguese-born José Dias is a regular presence in all major concert halls and Arts Festivals in South Africa. In recent seasons, international performances have taken him to Portugal, Mozambique, Israel, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, including extensive tours of the Netherlands and Germany, with repeated appearances in such historic halls as the Berliner Philharmonie, Münchner Philharmonie, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, among many others.

José is in high demand as soloist, chamber musician and vocal accompanist and coach, and has also been the musical director of Cape Town Opera’s internationally acclaimed touring productions African Angels and African Passion, as well as Biblioteek Productions’ operatic productions such as Poskantoor, La Voix Humaine and The Recycled Magic Flute. Recently he also wrote new music and took the musical direction of Piekniek by Mpande, a modern day reimagining of the seminal Afrikaans protest cabaret Piekniek by Dingaan as well as the 2019 Fleur du Cap Awards Ceremony, at the Artscape Opera House. These productions and his involvement therein, have made him the recipient of several awards, from festivals such as Woordfees, KKNK, Aardklop, as well as Fiësta and Fleur du Cap Awards.

He was co-creator and curator of the RISE concert series in collaboration with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra – a platform for the display of young SA classical talent – and is also an avid supporter of contemporary music, having premiered several works by composers such as Hendrik Hofmeyr, Alexander Johnson and Conrad Asman. Many of these (some written especially for him) have been recorded and are available on CD. 

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