27 June 2007
International singers and choirs join some of South Africa's finest voices in the music programme at the National Arts Festival taking place in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape from 28 June to 7 July.
American bass-baritone Simon Estes and fellow countryman Randall Umstead (tenor), along with South African soprano Bronwen Forbay, appear as soloists with the 150-strong Yale Alumni Choir for a performance of Haydn's soul-stirring oratorio The Creation.
Forbay, a Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, appears again with the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra under the baton of Richard Cock, in a programme that includes many well-loved favourites.
Another celebration of song is presented by a second group of choristers from the US, the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church Choir.
The massed voices of the University of Pretoria Chorale air indigenous evergreens in 11 languages, interwoven with crowd-pleasers from the international repertoire.
Several Eastern Cape choirs will join forces for a programme honouring the music of Todd Matshikiza. Best-known for his work on King Kong, Matshikiza he was also a prodigious writer and mainstay of the Drum generation.
Other Eastern Cape singers can be heard in Uhadi, a compilation of vocal works from the Bacaland, Gcalekaland, Western Tembuland, Sotho and Pondoland sub-tribal groups. This music is seldom heard live outside these communities, who use it as part of their daily life.
Away from the big concert venues, more intimate musical experiences await the visitor in a series presented by world-class classical duos. Zanta Hofmeyr (violin) and Malcolm Nay (piano) perform the three Grieg violin sonatas. Celebrated soloists Peter Martens (cello) and Leon Bosch (double-bass) are set to charm audiences with their eclectic programme Bass-ically Brilliant.
Matthew Reid (clarinet) and Pieter van Zyl (piano) offer two recitals, the first featuring music by von Weber, Brahms and Schumann, the second pieces by Poulenc and Milhaud and the première of a new sonata by Peter Klatzow.
The Westhuizen Duo (Sophia Grobler and Pierre van der Westhuizen) will be home from their doctoral studies in the US to present a programme of concertos and fantasies written for two pianos.
Paul Hanmer (piano) and Francois le Roux (cello) are classical-trained musicians famed for creating outside the box. Their festival concert celebrates the magic of spontaneous improvisation.
Grassroots is another memorable South African collaboration by the likes of Dave Reynolds, Louis Mhlanga, Concorde Nkabinde and Siya Makuzeni. They jazz up the blend of folk and popular forms with the rhythms of the Caribbean and the acoustic textures of classical music.
East meets West sees cello and saxophone at play with sitar, sarod and tabla to create a new musical language that is exuberant and ecstatic by turns.
Defying categorisation, Bambi Kellerman sings Kurt Weill and Stephen Sondheim in a cabaret that throws pepper in the eyes of convention.
In addition to the main music programme, a full Jazz Festival and a wide variety of popular and classical music on the Fringe will allow festinos to over-indulge in the pleasures of live music for the duration of the Festival.
For more information, see the related articles on the right - and visit the National Arts Festival website.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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