Cape Town Opera: 10 for 10
4 February 2004
Cape Town Opera is to mount a joint production of La Traviata with the Eoan Group in April to celebrate the 70th birthday of the arts training center which started its dazzling operatic career in the 1950s with this Verdi opera.
This new production, to be directed by Christine Crouse, will be staged at the Joseph Stone Theatre in Athlone from April 22 to May 2 and follows Aqua Opera, the floating Valentine extravaganza on February 12, 13 and 14 at the V&A; Waterfront Marina, and the once-only special performance of Beethoven's Fidelio on Robben Island on March 27.
Announcing the line-up for 2004 at the Table Bay Hotel last week, Cape Town Opera CEO Angelo Gobbato said there would be 10 productions in the year to celebrate the 10 years of democracy in South Africa.
Fourth on the calendar will be Handel's baroque opera Alcina at Artscape theatre from May
22-29, followed by The Pearl Fishers at the Monument Theatre in Grahamstown on July 1-3.
The sixth place goes to Mozart's last opera, The Magic Flute, at the Baxter from August 7-14, in which the dialogue will be spoken in English, isiXhosa and isiZulu.
The seventh event is still a secret. The only clue is that it will be a new opera production and a concert as part of the annual Cape Town Opera spring festival at Artscape in September. This will be followed by the champagne operetta Die Fledermaus from October 21-30.
The world premiere of Valley Song the opera, based on Athol Fugard's play set to music by Thomas Rajna, will be staged at Spier from December 1-6. And finally, the tenth event on the calendar will be glamorous Aqua Opera 2005 which, like this year's event, will be held over the St Valentine's weekend.
Source: Cape Town Opera
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