Cape Town – The City's wealth of young musical talent will be showcased when the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) hosts a community gala concert at Artscape Theatre.
The concert - scheduled for Sunday, February 17 at 6pm, under the direction of CPO conductor Brandon Phillips - with the City’s support, follows on last year’s debut gala success.
But this time the orchestra has roped in a diverse array of local young talent which includes last year’s Idols winner, Yanga Sobetwa, 17, and her runner-up, Thato Makape, 24, who both will sing individually and in duet at the concert.
Other spine-tingling acts in this year’s line-up include the fabulous Jazzart, Township Opera, former Idols winner Karen Kortje and singer Elizabeth du Toit.
Also featuring will be local keyboard maestro Camillo Lombard and saxophonist Don Vino Prins.
Lombard said: “It’s very exciting to be a part of that community gala event hosted by the CPO. It has always been a dream of mine to perform with a full orchestra.
“When I was 18 years old, I performed with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra Choir.
“We performed the Verdi Requiem. Little did I know then that one day I would be performing my own original compositions.”
Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra concertmaster Jordan Brooks, 15, has a musical maturity far beyond his tender age.
CPO chief executive Louis Heyneman described last year’s concert as an incredible success and said he looked forward to a repeat of the packed Artscape Opera House standing ovations in which patrons had shouted for more as they heard what a symphony orchestra could do to enhance the brilliance of that concert’s young artists.