Cape Town Opera

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The Cape Town Opera (CTO) in Cape Town , South Africa , is the only opera house in Africa that operates all year round. With the Voice of the Nation Ensemble, the CTO has a world-renowned choir.

The opera is directed by Michael Williams and Matthew Wild.

History, goals, repertoire

Opera was long regarded by the South African majority population as a “white art” and thus a cultural means of oppression, especially since the opera houses in Bloemfontein, Durban, Cape Town and Pretoria were strictly forbidden to employ black or black people during the apartheid period . In Cape Town, however, opera can refer not only to a “white” story that began with the Italian Giuseppe Paganelli in the 1920s, but also to a “black” one whose main force was The Eoan Group , which it did for years despite multiple disabilities managed to organize opera performances at City Hall.

The Cape Town Opera, operated by the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB), was founded in 1964 with Smetana's The Bartered Bride . In 1971 a newly built opera house was opened with Verdi's Aida , the drama of an intercultural love - here, however, portrayed by a white cast, played for a white audience. Although the new CAPAB management of the 1990s under Angelo Gobbato and Renato Palumbo tried to make the ensemble more demographically equitable, the institution could not be saved. In 1999, today's Cape Town Opera was re-established, consisting of new staff and parts of the CAPAB project and the former Opera School of the South African College of Music .

Artscape Theater Center in Cape Town (2017)

Today CTO has established itself as the largest organization in South Africa in the field of the performing arts, plays at the Artscape Theater and the Baxter Theater in Cape Town, as well as fifteen other venues across the country, and makes regular guest appearances worldwide. The opera company is currently the only one in South Africa that operates all year round. With the studio, children's performances and tours in the former townships, the CTO is trying to get the less educated classes interested in opera and classical music. The term “The Voice of the Nation” reflects the self-confidence of the relatively young organization.

The choir of the CTO is essential for the success of the troupe and the core of the project. It currently consists of 24 men and women, seven sopranos, tenors and bassists each, as well as three contraltos. The choir director is Marvin Kernelle . The ensemble is characterized on the one hand by its joy of playing and vocal power, but has an excellent classical training. In its concerts and shows, the choir combines classical opera with gospel, jazz and traditional spirituals on the fly. Not only well-known South Africans - from Desmond Tutu to William Kentridge - expressed their enthusiasm for the ensemble, also audiences and press in Africa, Europe, America and Australia. The choir is now so well known that even the CTO's opera guest performances are advertised with reference to the choir.

CTO also worked with other opera companies in Europe such as NorrlandsOperan , Welsh National Opera and Malmö Opera .

The repertoire of the house consists of classical works of opera literature - in 2016, for example, a new production of Salome by Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss as well as revivals of Mozart's Magic Flute , Bizet's Carmen and Monteverdi's Orfeo . On the occasion of the South African Human Rights Day , two young singers from South Africa, Pretty Yende and Sunnyboy Dladla , gave a gala concert with works of bel canto on March 21, 2016 .

Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition

In June and July 2016, the 35th Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition took place at the Cape Town Opera and thus for the first time outside of Europe. This competition is referred to as the “Olympics of Opera” on the company's website. The winners' concert was given by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Kamal Khan .

Award

Literature, film

  • Beverley Brommert: Company Profile: Cape Town Opera , in: Opera Now (London), June 2013
  • Ralf Pleger : Cape of Good Voice , NDR / Arte , 2009

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ EOAN Group of Performing Arts: History ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 28, 2016.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eoangroup.co.za
  2. ^ A b John Allison: Porgy and Bess , in: Spotlight, Summer 2012, p. 27.
  3. ↑ See English Wikipedia: Artscape Theater Center
  4. ^ "Cape Town Opera Announces Porgy & Bess Summer UK Tour Cast - Tsakane Maswanganyi & Xolela Sixaba Star" , Broadway World , April 26, 2012, accessed July 28, 2016.
  5. ↑ Cape of Good Voices ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Abstract, accessed July 28, 2016.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.globalscreen.de
  6. ↑ Cape Town Opera: Chorus , accessed July 28, 2016.
  7. ^ South Bank Center: Mandela Trilogy , accessed on July 28, 2016. There, the CTO's guest performance as Cape Town Opera & Chorus is announced.
  8. ↑ http://www.norrlandsoperan.se/sve/om-norrlandsoperan/opera
  9. ↑ https://www.wno.org.uk/meettheorchestra
  10. ↑ Broadway World: Cape Town Opera Announces 2016 Season, Including SALOME, THE MAGIC FLUTE and CARMEN , December 11, 2015, accessed July 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ Cape Town Opera: Belvedere Singing Competition Gala , accessed July 29, 2016.

See also