Dynamic |duo to cast their spell

Published Sep 16, 2014

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ZANNE Stapelberg isn’t just an exciting and extraordinary performer, she also selects her fellow artists well. It makes sense from an artistic point of view, and one’s curiosity is piqued because of what this combo may accomplish artistically. In the next few weeks she will be performing in Joburg and Pretoria before travelling to Potchefstroom for her Aardklop gig.

For the Gauteng concerts Stapelberg has again partnered with regular collaborator, pianist Kathleen Tagg, performing in a lunch hour concert at Unisa on Friday at 1pm in the Miriam Makeba Concert Hall and taking to the stage on Saturday at 8pm in the Linder Auditorium, St Andrews Road, Parktown, in a show titled Wordsong.

“We focused on songs driven by lyrics,” says Stapelberg, who explains that her and Tagg’s collaboration is completely natural. “We have been musical contemporaries since we were students and I always admired her individuality.” When they first teamed for a concert, she knew they were destined to perform as a duo. “I’ve had a musical love affair with her ever since. We move on the same wavelength.” And having seen a cabaret done by this dynamic duo a few years ago in Bloemfontein, this is not a concert to miss if you like artists who step out there in both dramatic and artistic style.

With her dramatic looks and mellifluous voice, you’re easily swayed once she hits her stride and that first note. She describes their shows as slightly distorted – but deliciously so.

Put her together with someone like Tagg – who has similar qualities but a different musicality yet completely attuned in their artistic and theatrical sensibilities – and you can expect the unexpected. The Bloemfontein concert wasn’t quite where it should’ve been, but I was blown away by the indi- viduality, innovation and sheer magic of the performance. These artists were at play serving their art and audience.

The Unisa lunch hour concert (a shortened version) and the Johannesburg Musical Society’s concerts feature songs by Spanish composer Xavier Montsalvatge, as well as songs by Liszt, (in song and only piano), Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and Kurt Weill.

Their eclectic programme has a witty group of songs by Philip de Vos, arranged by veteran South African pianist and band leader Albie Louw. “I love these ditties,” says Stapelberg who feels children laugh at the humour while adults rediscover the child within.

With Tagg living in New York now, they don’t have too many shows together. Catch it if you can as Stapelberg describes their musical chemistry as off the charts. In Potchefstroom (from October 7 to 11) Stapelberg teams up with another regular, guitar virtuoso James Grace, for a revival of a programme they did five years ago Canciones Espanolas.

“It was very popular back then and it’s always good to revisit something and to see what you can add,” she says.

“I love Spanish music,” she says.

But magically for audiences the fiery exchange between Stapelberg and Grace works well in this genre which includes popular and exotic classical music and contemporary Spanish songs. The programme includes Spanish melodies of Enrique Granados and Manuel de Falla, and music of the Argentinean tango composer Astor Piazzolla. There is also music from the soundtracks of popular movies such as Frida (Lila Downs) and Don Juan DeMarco (arrangement by Bryan Adams), as well as an arrangement of Somewhere over the Rainbow by young composer Braam du Toit and a new composition by celebrated composer Matthys van Dijk on a poem from Pablo Neruda’s The Book of Questions.

More than anything Stapelberg wants to perform without compromise and most of her performances have a theatrical and musical quotient.

“Everything has to be theatre,” she says. Stapelberg as a performer cannot be anything but dramatic.

Her looks, presence and talent determine that. “It’s all about perfor- mance,” she says. “It rules my being.”

• Bookings for local concerts are at Computicket. Seats can also be bought at the box office from one hour before the start of the perfor- mance on Saturday. Students and scholars get substantial discounts at all Johannesburg Musical Society performances. For details about the JMS who are producing the Gauteng concerts visit www.jms.org.za, call Herman on 083 228 2917, Avril on 011 728 5492. Aardklop info: www.cloveraardklop.co.za

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