Latest news with #CapeTownOpera
Time Out
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Out and About: Things to do this weekend
Get ready for an action-packed weekend across Cape Town! From 15 to 17 August, the city comes alive with a mix of music, theatre, art, wellness, and hands-on experiences. The weekend weather situation is still cool to chilly, with some chance of showers on Saturday, but slightly better conditions on Sunday. That being said, it can turn on a dime, so always layer up. Explore cultural festivals in the CBD, family-friendly activities along the West Coast, and high-energy fitness and music events in the Winelands. Dive into our curated guide and make the most of your weekend in and around Cape Town. Cape Town CBD Heat Festival A vibrant winter arts festival showcasing visual arts, live music (jazz & opera), theatre, stand-up comedy, and digital installations - all exploring the theme Other Worlding across central Cape Town. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Heat Winter Arts Festival (@heat_arts_festival) Everybody Loves Sundays Ease into Sunday with a curated mix of soulful vibes and smooth house rhythms. Enjoy deep house and uplifting beats while relaxing with drinks, good company, and spectacular views. This event is designed for a chilled Sunday wind-down and is strictly 18+. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Everybody Loves Sundays (@everybodylovessundays) Atlantic Seaboard Soul & R&B Fridays Kickstart your weekend with live Soul and R&B DJs, spectacular vibe at one of Cape Town's most popular destinations. Enjoy great music, delicious food and drinks, and a night out with friends in the heart of the Mother City. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out Market Cape Town (@timeoutmarketcapetown) This Is Me! Date & Time: Saturday, 16 August 2025, 09:00 – 16:00 Venue: Hout Bay, Cape Town A full-day empowerment programme for women, focusing on mental health, entrepreneurship, physical wellbeing, and life-work balance. Join workshops and sessions designed to inspire, equip, and celebrate women in all aspects of their lives. Southern Suburbs Feedback (Murder-Mystery Theatre) Andrew Buckland's physical theatre piece is a quirky, poignant murder mystery blending dark humour and lyrical storytelling. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Baxter (@baxtertheatre) Melomania A high-energy live music quiz experience! Three powerhouse vocalists perform hits across genres and decades while challenging the audience to identify songs, artists, and movie soundtracks. Hosted by Ash Searle, this interactive show is a fun test of music knowledge and a night of unforgettable entertainment. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Kalk Bay Theatre (@thekalkbaytheatre) Cape Flats The Magic Flute – Cape Town Opera Cape Town Opera's new vibrant, multilingual adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute blends live operatic performance with puppetry for a playful, accessible introduction to opera that offers both cultural enrichment and pure entertainment. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cape Town Opera (@capetownopera) Northern Suburbs Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley's legendary Lord of the Dance returns to Cape Town with its celebrated production A Lifetime of Standing Ovations - a spectacular showcase of precision Irish dance, dazzling choreography, and theatrical flair. Adding to the experience, GrandWest's Chef Keshan Rambarun will be running a special pop-up street food station to beat the pre-show dinner rush. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sun International (@suninternationalza) It Rumbles Before It Rises Dates: Sat 16 August (10am–1pm) - until 26 September 2025 Venue: Hugo Modern Art, 25 Hofmeyr St, Welgemoed, Cape Town Ticket price & booking: | jeanne@ | 060 383 0815 Hugo Modern Art presents a bold all-women group exhibition drawing inspiration from the life cycle of a volcano and the myth of Persephone, the exhibition moves from quiet rumblings to full expression in fiery or tender form. All works are available for purchase. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jeanne Hugo (@hugo_modern.art) West Coast Two Oceans Aquarium Trash Bash A hands-on shoreline cleanup led by the Two Oceans Aquarium, is held every third Saturday of the month. Perfect for families and eco-conscious locals keen to learn about marine conservation while making an impact. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation (@aquariumfoundation) Silent Nights, Dancing Lights Date & time: Saturday, 16 August 2025 | Sessions at 5pm & 6:30pm Venue: Melkbos Country Club, 1 Robben Road, Melkbosstrand Ticket price & booking: Adults R100, Kids under 12 R50 | Quicket (limited headphones available). Dance under the stars at the Melkbos Night Market with this immersive 3-channel silent disco. Choose from soulful house, decades hits from the 80s–00s, or kid-friendly party beats, all via wireless headphones. A cosy, family-friendly winter evening with glowing lights, great music, and market vibes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Silent Disco by Silent Events SA est2014 (@silenteventssa) Cape Winelands Club Sweat Experience the ultimate workout set to a live DJ in a disco-inspired atmosphere. Enjoy high-energy moves, vibrant lights, and post-session coffee with friends. A sweaty, fun-filled fitness early-morning weekend party for all energy levels. View this post on Instagram A post shared by UNLOCKED FITNESS® (@unlocked_fitnessstudio) UV Resin Workshop @ Eikenhof Estate Learn the art of UV resin in a hands-on creative session at the scenic Eikenhof Estate. This popular workshop teaches techniques for crafting stunning resin pieces in a relaxed, supportive environment. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cre8ive SA (@cre8ive_sa)
IOL News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Andrew Buckland's 'Feedback' is among Cape Town's vibrant theatre offerings this week
Awethu Hleli and Carlo Daniels are set to give a compelling performance in Andrew Buckland's 'Feedback' at the Baxter Theatre Centre. Image: Instagram Feedback South African theatre veteran Andrew Buckland returns as writer and director in this play, assisted by award-winning performer Roshina Ratnam. The cast from Baxter's Fires Burning company includes Carlo Daniels, Awethu Hleli, Nolufefe Ntshuntshe and Lyle October, known for productions such as "La Ronde", "Metamorphoses" and "Othello". The show centres around a murder mystery which becomes a fast-paced and unconventional piece of physical theatre, touching on topics like food consciousness and globalisation. Packed with humour, action and sharp social commentary, it celebrates both human generosity and greed. Where: The Baxter Theatre Centre. When: Runs until August 30. Show times differ. Cape Town Opera: The Barber of Seville Rossini's 1816 comic masterpiece returns with a fresh staging from Cape Town Opera. Bursting with wit and memorable music, this opera buffa follows the schemes of Figaro, played by William Berger and Thando Zwane in alternating performances. Innocent Masuku, who recently debuted as Count Almaviva with the English National Opera, reprises the role alongside Dumisa Masoka. Where: Theatre on the Bay in Camps Bay. When: Runs until Sunday, August 17. Show times differ, depending on the day. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading WGRUV: Letters of Reflection This dance production presents seven original works by Holly and Lex Gruver and a much-loved piece by American choreographer Tyler Gilstrap titled 'Unsquared'. Performed by contemporary ballet-trained dancers, the works explore themes of love, loss, work, relationships, doubt and hope. Where: The Star Theatre at the Homecoming Centre. When: Friday, August 15, at 7.30pm and Saturday, August 16, at 3pm.
News24
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- News24
Cape Town Opera's take on Rossini's The Barber of Seville, set to delight
Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville is a legendary comedic opera focused on the famous character of Figaro. Cape Town Opera is performing the work at the Theatre on the Bay until 17 August, directed by Sylvaine Strike. The actors expressed excitement at the opportunity to bring Rossini's work to life. Cape Town Opera is performing Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville at the Theatre on the Bay until 17 August, directed by Sylvaine Strike. The cast includes William Berger and Thando Zwane, sharing the role of Figaro. Opera singer Innocent Masuku, who appeared on Britain's Got Talent and finished in fourth place in 2024, shares the role of Count Almaviva with Dumisa Masoka. The role of Rosina is played by Megan Kahts and Brittany Smith. Other performers include Lonwabo Mose, Conroy Scott, Monde Masimini, Garth Delport, Luvo Rasemeni, Lusibalwethu Sesanti and a male voice ensemble from the Cape Town Opera Chorus. The legendary comedic opera follows the story of two young lovers, with the protagonist being the character Figaro. Supplied The actors were enthusiastic about bringing Rossini's work to life. 'I am so excited to be back in Cape Town,' Masuku told News24. He eagerly awaits playing Count Almaviva, having played the character previously for the English National Opera. 'It's a very exciting role. Why is this exciting? Because he disguises himself like 3 times,' he added. 'If you can grab your ticket, don't just buy one ticket, buy for yourself and for someone else. And I will see you there.' 'I am incredibly excited to portray Rosina for the public alongside my amazing colleagues, Thando Zwane as Figaro and Innocent Masuku as Count Almaviva,' Smith said. 'It's quite a full circle moment, seeing as all three of us were in the Cape Town Opera Young Artist programme a couple of years ago, and we always said we were going to perform together one day on the stage, and that day came around very quickly,' she added. She praised Strike's direction and said she helped 'loosen up what the public perceives as stiff' by really bringing out the comedic elements. 'It's just going to be an absolutely wonderful show.'
Daily Maverick
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
The Barber of Seville is an operatic funny business
For Cape Town Opera's latest production, leaning into physical comedy has proven liberating. It's that narcotic moment of creative bliss, that point at which all the elements of a production magically coalesce, producing something far greater than the sum of its parts. Getting there, though, seldom comes without side-effects. For theatre director Sylvaine Strike it's been three weeks of voluminous ear worms. She'd experienced a similar phenomenon while working on the musical Spring Awakening, but Strike says that directing her first opera has produced in her head an after-hours aftermath of unrelenting music and top-volume voices unlike anything she's encountered before. 'It's been relentless,' she says. 'I tried driving home in silence – because that's what I need after a full day of rehearsals. But it didn't stop in the car. It didn't stop in the shower. It did not stop when I climbed into bed. I had severe insomnia from it. I heard the music and singing constantly.' Not that listening to it first-hand, in the rehearsal room, has in any way been unpleasant. Far from it: 'It's glorious to be in the presence of those voices,' Strike says. It's when it's stuck in your head that it's unforgiving. The opera is The Barber of Seville, Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's comic masterpiece, and the ear worms are as much down to the addictive beauty and hypnotic power of the music Strike has been hearing all day, every day for three weeks, as it is a consequence of her obsessive dedication to the work. It's been a mighty task. Aside from shaping the opera she has been consumed by the challenge of fashioning the singers from two casts into formidable physical comedians. Part of the encouragement was to shift the focus outwards. 'I asked the singers to make each moment about the other person in the scene,' says Strike. 'Whether it's the rich and handsome count you're falling in love with or the young woman you want but can't have because you're an old fart, I said make it about that person… Once they took the licence to not focus on themselves, they started to play.' The other encouragement was to not take themselves too seriously. To have fun and embrace the comedy. Once this freedom had been unlocked, a momentous transformation happened. I witnessed the results of the singers leaning into this newfound playfulness during their final day in the rehearsal room, a week before opening at the Theatre on the Bay on 5 August. Rehearsing that afternoon was the so-called Red Cast: the dashingly handsome Innocent Masuku (the London-based South African tenor who made a name for himself by reaching the finals of Britain's Got Talent last year) in the role of Count Almaviva; local superstar soprano Brittany Smith as an utterly enchanting Rosina; ebullient baritone Thando Zwane as Figaro, the titular barber who is in fact a hustler who'll do anything for money; and a hilariously self-aware Conroy Scott as the aforementioned old fart, Dr Bartolo, who schemes of marrying the much, much younger Rosina. Each of them was sublime – as was the rest of the cast of colourful characters, and the all-male chorus, who at one point spontaneously began dancing, one of the many natural expressions by the performers in response to the music that Strike decided to keep in the show, 'because it's their truth in that moment'. It was the Cape Town Opera company like never before: having the time of their lives, not only singing their hearts out, but expressing the opera's hilarity with their entire bodies. It was enthralling to say the least, everyone consumed by the magic of the music, the madcap comedy fully embodied. Watching them play, having fun as they sang and leaned into the ridiculousness of the comedy, I completely forgot that I don't understand Italian. The story came alive, crisp and clear and compelling. 'I just told them to own it,' says Strike. 'Own the joy! Own the hilarity! For God's sake, it's a farce!' Own it they do. While the story's way more convoluted than your average opera and can cause confusion because of its strange twists and turns and Almaviva's various disguises, Strike has made it so visually vivid that even a Rossini virgin will follow the action without knowing a word of Italian. 'I was obsessive about sculpting every moment in order to make the meaning clear,' she says. Strike, who trained at the Lecoq School in Paris and has practised physical theatre for decades, draws on a rich tradition of embodied comedy that goes back to Commedia dell'arte and draws on a range of movement techniques, even tai chi. 'It's a lot to ask of them,' Strike says. 'Comedy is terribly, terribly hard. And they're singing at the same time, so there's the technique required to deliver the vocals while performing the comedy.' Her approach is to give the performers agency. 'I'm not a director who tells you what to do,' she says. Instead, it's been up to each singer to find the physicality of their character. Strike says the process has been incredibly liberating, giving the singers new tools with which to connect to their character's truth. 'It's not cerebral in any way,' she says. 'Just take the thinking away and sing with the entire body.' Apart from giving the singers licence to play, Strike has also added a meta layer to the performance by bringing accompanying pianist Jan Hugo, who is also the show's musical director, into the opera. His role? Rossini himself, composing in real time. 'We're not going to pretend that there isn't a piano accompanying them, because I think that's disrespectful to the pianist,' Strike says. 'And I love the idea that Rossini is there with us, creating the opera as it unfolds.' It is not only respectful, but has created an opportunity for comic interaction between Rossini and the singers who are performing his opera. It's especially fun in those moments when the performers get a chance to express their exasperation at the extreme demands Rossini placed on the singers. And it's true, Rossini's schtick was writing extremely demanding songs. It's a bel canto opera, meaning that it's very expressive and literally packed with 'beautiful singing', with a lot of trilling up and down the scales, arias that build and build at pace as though they exist to showcase the extreme potential of the human voice. It's music designed to show off the agility, speed and prowess of the singers who are required to perform some hardcore vocal gymnastics. Some of the songs feel like a comedic, galloping race to a finish line that refuses to appear. Never mind the absolute loveliness of the melodies. The opera's opening night in Rome in 1816 was a disaster, although not because of the material. It's believed that a rival composer who had created another opera based on the same play had hired hecklers to boo the premiere performance. When Rossini stepped out to conduct the orchestra, his outfit apparently attracted laughter, and then not only did a black cat at some point pad across a stage full of superstitious opera singers, but one of them fell on his face and broke his nose. The show continued but there was blood everywhere. Despite the unmitigated fiasco of opening night, it's become perhaps the most-produced and best-loved comic operas yet made, and its music, undoubtedly well ahead of its time, has influenced and infiltrated popular culture in myriad ways (from Bugs Bunny's Rabbit of Seville to an episode of The Simpsons, several of the songs are widely recognisable). Rossini's genius is irrefutable, and he wrote operas like a machine, composed two a year for 19 consecutive years and retired by the age of 40. He was just 24 when he dashed off The Barber of Seville – in under three weeks, according to most musicologists. 'It's just ridiculous,' Strike says of the pressure Rossini must have felt to meet his commission deadline in time for the singers to learn their parts and pull the show together. The composer was known in his day as Señor Crescendo, attributable to the manner in which his music would repeatedly build and then come down. 'It must have been like pop music to audiences when they first heard it,' Strike says. 'It's witchy music. It's wrong. The cadences are out. It's pushing the boundaries. Utterly revolutionary for its time.' Watching the rehearsal, witnessing the hilarity and properly comprehending the music for the first time, what struck me was how 'mathematical' Rossini's compositions are. In his madcap imagination, he must have calculated the comedy so precisely in order to make it work as an effect of the music which so cleverly and clearly conveys the mounting madness of the farcical plot. 'It is mathematical,' Strike says. 'He wrote comedic moments into the music. It's like Beckett, so timing-based. You sort of hear Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, that chase-scene music of silent-era movies… He was inventing a kind of music for comedy that would eventually become definitive.' Strike believes the music fits the 'complicated puzzle' that is at the heart of the comedy. 'It's complex and intricate and it's the nature of farce, which involves confusion and disguises and the mistaken identities and the pursuit of something.' And, apart from a comedic sensibility that was avant-garde for the time, Rossini seemed to also have a taste for parody. There are instances in The Barber of Seville where he appears to laugh at the institution of opera itself to some extent, poking fun at the form while simultaneously expanding its possibilities, revelling in the potential to play and experiment and push the boundaries. 'There are these moments when Rossini simply decided there was going to be 'more', and then some more again,' Strike says. 'And so some of the songs are florid and embellished and they go on and on, really testing the singers. 'That's why in this production we have comedic moments in which we see the singer's frustration because an aria just never ends. It's a dig at the reverential way people saw opera – and still do today. Rossini was evidently having a laugh while milking it in the most extraordinary, genius way, because the compositions are so fine and beautiful. And because he could. As though he was saying, 'Screw you all, it's not actually all that serious. We can have a laugh at the opera.'' And Rossini is laughing to this day. No doubt rolling in his grave as those ear worms persist 200 years after conjuring them into existence. DM
Daily Maverick
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Not your grandmother's Aida — Verdi's great work gets a science fiction spin
Cape Town Opera delivers a superb production of one of opera's true classics, Aida. This production reimagines the setting in an African futurist time and landscape. The Cape Town Opera's production of Giuseppe Verdi's classic opera Aida, now on at the Artscape Theatre until 31 May, receives a dramatic, modern spin, even as it stays faithful to the music and story of this great work. Sometimes operas can be overly fancy with the plots and subplots (and the music to go with such wrinkles and complications). But as conductor Kamal Khan explained to me, Aida is, at its heart, a simple story of a love triangle that goes way off track — but embedded in a struggle between two warring nations, along with espionage and international betrayals thrown in to give the storyline extra energy. Aida's origin story begins in the 1860s as the Egyptian khedive Isma'il Pasha was determined to make his heretofore recumbent nation, which had been an Ottoman satrapy for hundreds of years — but one with an extraordinarily long history of its civilisation — into an avatar of modernisation and a model for Africa and Asia. This was taking place just before the explosion of European colonisation in Africa and Asia that occurred from the 1880s onward. As the fates would have it, Egypt was becoming increasingly prosperous from its exports of fine quality cotton to European mills because of the American Civil War and the blockade of Confederate ports by the Union Navy that prevented cotton from being exported. Moreover, the French were constructing the Suez Canal on the edges of Egyptian territory, linking the Mediterranean and Red seas. This canal promised to give rise to faster, safer sea transport between Europe and South and East Asia — once ships began transiting the canal from 1870. And so, what's a khedive to do in the face of all of this excitement and progress? The right answer is to commission an opera from one of the world's finest composers, someone whose music would highlight Egypt's vast historical panorama and glorious past, and simultaneously mark Egypt's emergence as a wannabe modern power. Why not! Initially somewhat reluctant, Verdi eventually accepted the commission and produced one of the grandest of 19th-century grand operas. The work almost instantly became part of the repertoires of opera companies around the world. Productions have taken place somewhere around the globe every year since it premiered in 1871 in Cairo in Egypt's new opera house, and then in its European premiere in Milan, Italy. The Cairo production had been held up by the Franco-Prussian War as the costumes and sets were being fabricated in France. The Egypt of Aida is remarkably different from Mozart's Egypt in The Magic Flute. The latter is all about philosophical mysteries and Masonic symbols in an imaginary Egypt. By contrast, Verdi's Egypt came 70 years after Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, the discovery and successful translation of hieroglyphics via the Rosetta Stone, and the beginnings of serious archaeology. Verdi's Egypt was based, at least in part, on those early discoveries and interpretations of the culture of Egypt, transposed into the 19th-century operatic form. Of course, there are more recent operas situated in Africa, such as Philip Glass' Akhnaten and his Satyagraha, both John Adams' and Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, and one of the earliest operas, Dido and Aeneas, which takes place in Carthage in North Africa. South African composers, meanwhile, have created several operas about Nelson Mandela and one about Winnie Mandela, the precedent-setting 'Princess Magogo', as well as a clutch of short, one-act works ranging from the recording of Khoi-san legends to the death of Chris Hani. There certainly are a couple of seasons' worth of operas connected to Africa in this mix. The plot Aida's plot is pretty straightforward. Amneris, the princess of Egypt, is in love with Radames, a general. Meanwhile, Radames is head-over-heels in love with Aida, an Ethiopian princess, captured in a previous war, who is now a slave to Amneris. The Egyptians and Ethiopians are soon at war with each other yet again, and Radames is eventually selected as the general to lead the Egyptian army. He is a success, and the pharaoh promises him anything he desires. To the pharaoh's surprise, Radames' wish is to allow the Ethiopian POWs to go free, including, it turns out, Aida's father. This is not going to end well. Soon enough, Radames is trapped into betraying state secrets to the Ethiopian leader, who is waiting to meet his daughter, Aida, by the banks of the Nile. The Ethiopian's goal is to use his daughter's love for Radames to get him to compromise himself. Sure enough, Radames accidentally discloses the direction of the march by the Egyptian forces in their next attack — a security breach that lands him in enormous trouble (unlike US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth), given that it is a treasonous offence to betray military secrets. Then, when the secrets are compromised, Amneris attempts to get Radames' sentence commuted if he will marry her, but to no avail since he will not renounce his love for Aida. Thus, it is off to the tomb below the temple for him for a gruesome death, as there will be no escape from his incarceration. Astonishingly, though, Aida has hidden herself in that same tomb, and so they die together, professing a hopeless love for each other. Amneris, meanwhile, is left to bewail the reality that the man she loves is about to die. Along the way, the opera has two of the greatest marches in operatic history. Listen to the Triumphal March from Act 2: It includes some big dance moments, and great arias like Celeste Aida — which pretty much describes what the title says the opera is supposed to be about. Listen to Luciano Pavarotti singing this famous aria: There is also Leontyne Price's famous performance of O Patria Mia: Science fiction Almost every production of Aida has monumental, ancient Egyptian sets filled with pyramids and costumes to match. Some productions have even had live elephants, cheetahs and lions on stage — especially when they have been done in outdoor arenas. But this production is different. Artistic director Magdalene Minnaar has elected to turn this Aida into a production based on 'African futurism'. The sets have uncanny echoes of some signature science fiction films and television serials — Fritz Lang's trailblazing film Metropolis, but also Dune, The Time Tunnel, those Dwayne Johnson Scorpion films, and Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, among others. If you watch closely, there is a moment that echoes the denizens of the Star Wars cantina. The Egyptian soldiers owe something of their style to Star Trek's Borg or, perhaps, the clone warriors of the Star Wars universe — with their glowing red-laser pointer eyes. Minnaar admits she had a love of science fiction as a teen and still has a fascination with Dune — and her animation designers are said to share the same feelings. In this Aida there are no pyramids, temples, massive statues or sphinxes, but there is a mysterious ascending and descending, glowing triangle floating in space — perhaps a subtle reference to that Masonic business Mozart used in his Egyptian opera, maybe the pyramids, or perhaps a reachback to the idea that Aida is really about a love triangle gone really, really bad. The priests, to give Radames the edge in fighting the Ethiopians, offer him their blessings, and then hand him a magical weapon for the upcoming battle with the Ethiopians that is almost certainly meant to be some kind of nuclear device. Moreover, the backdrop often features stylised representations of atomic nuclei and mathematical equations, as well as planets in orbit around the Sun. This production is not your grandmother's Aida with the elephants and Egyptian symbols. This is a reimagining with a vengeance, even if, amazingly, none of this re-situating does damage to score, story or Antonio Ghislanzoni's libretto. Precision and dynamism In this production, conductor Kamal Khan brought precision and a dynamism to the entire performance, while the chorus, trained by Antoinette Huyssen, was uniformly excellent. The leads on opening night — Nobulumko Mngxekeza as Aida, Nonhlanhla Yende as Amneris, and Lukhanyo Moyake as Radames, and supporting cast members Conroy Scott as Amonasro, Garth Delport as the Egyptian king, Lonwabo Mose as Ramfis, Van Wyk Venter as the royal messenger and Khayakazi Madlala as the high priestess — all sang beautifully. Offering any criticisms seems almost churlish. While most of the costuming was exciting, Aida's was the least effective from among the leads, especially in comparison to Amneris' unorthodox make-up and costumes (with a possible reachback to Grace Jones). While Mngxekeza's singing was superb, her and Radames' love for each other seemed a bit pallid in its physical expression, in contrast to Amneris' clear obsession with her hero and would-be husband. Finally, choreographer Gregory Maqoma's innovative movements for the dancers from the Jazzart Dance Theatre could serve the opera's action even better if their entrances integrated them more smoothly into the ongoing action, as opposed to almost separate set pieces. Maqoma is well known for his precision of movement in his works, but his decision to allow the dancers to act more individually and naturally might be refined still further. On the whole, these are small criticisms of an ambitious, beautifully sung production. Verdi is said to have responded to a newspaper reporter's question about what his theory of opera was, with the words, 'The seats should be filled.' Artscape's seats for this opera should be filled by anyone who wants to stretch their musical experiences — or just enjoy a really fine production. One final word about Verdi. He was not just a first-tier composer. He was a politician and served as a senator in the new Italian state, post-1870. One of his lasting contributions was to spearhead musical education for everyone — in part, at least, to ensure concert seats were full. His efforts should be echoed in contemporary South Africa — this is a country in which music plays such an important part in so many people's lives, after all. DM
