It was wonderful to be at Cape Town Philharmonic Children’s Concert at Kirstenbosch, March 29, 2026 – a concert of whimsy and fun. The programme featured Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev and music from movies, such as Star Wars and Frozen .It was the last concert in the 2025/26 season of Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts.

Comic and award winning actor Rob van Vuuren hosted the concert. He narrated Peter and the Wolf and dressed up as the characters, which the young ones loved. In the movie music segment, he did the same, dressing up as characters, delighting and captivating the audience.

A shout out in particular to Van Vuuren’s imaging of the Wolf Peter and the Wolf. I was intrigued, reading up about Peter and The Wolf. Prokofiev was commissioned in 1936 by the Central Children’s Theatre in Moscow to compose a work to introduce youngsters to music. He did this in Peter and the Wolf, which has been described as a “symphonic fairy tale”.  Each character allocated an instrument or category of instruments. The Flute represents the little bird. Oboe represents the duck. Clarinet represents the cat. Peter’s grandpa is represented by bassoons. Wolf is represented by French horns.


From what I can gather, it took Prokofiev a week or less (depending on the source) to write the score for the music and the story/narration. Peter and the Wolf, was composed, shortly after returning to live permanently in the Soviet Union. He had lived in exile, for about 18 years. He left after the Revolution. Why did he go back? He apparently yearned to be in his birth country, so he returned with his wife and children. It was a hectic time in the Soviet Union – the zenith of Stalin’s Great Terror, with clampdown on politics, general repression of culture and artistic freedom and expression. Artists were being pressured to make work to serve as propaganda. The state was cracking down on artistic freedom, demanding that art serve as propaganda for the regime. Anyway, in a flash, Prokofiev created the fairy tale, with its ingenious score to make an orchestra and instrument accessible for youngsters. And in South Africa, March 29, 2026, Rob van Vuuren put a Cape Town spin on the characters and story.


And that is a wrap for the current season of Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts. The 2026/27 season will open at end of November-ish. Congrats to Sarah Struys and team for another wonderful season in the spectacular gardens.

❇ Rob van Vuuren channeling the Wolf from Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev, March 29, 2026 at Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts. Pic: Robyn Cohen/TheCapeRobyn.