The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) and Cape Town Opera (CTO), South Africa’s most celebrated arts companies, are again collaborating on an iconic work, the ‘Requiem by Mozart’.
They will present this in the Toringkerk in Paarl on Easter Saturday, March 30, at 4pm.
Opera music enthusiasts will be spoilt for choice with high energy live performances under the hand of Bernhard Gueller.
Gueller, CPO’s principal guest conductor, will direct the orchestra and CTO soloists Siphamandla Moyake (soprano), Judith Neilson, young artists Julia Portela Piñón (alto), Mongezi Mosoaka (tenor) and Lonwabo Mose (bass baritone) with two choirs.
Cape Town Opera’s Chorus is under the leadership of Chorus Master Marvin Kernelle. The concert will also include the Symphony Choir of Cape Town, trained by Levi Alexander.
Gueller said this is the most mysterious Requiem ever written and was the composer’s last work before his death at 35.
“Perhaps the most famous of all Requiems, it is one of the most profound and moving. The mystery that surrounds it included who ordered it? Were there more sketches he left?
“It covers the spectrum of emotion from subtlety to high drama. Mozart never completed it, but he left sketches so that Sussmeyer was able to complete a work that has become the pinnacle of Mozart’s oeuvre.” said Gueller.
The third Easter collaboration in Paarl between the two companies is part of the goal of both organisations to take outstanding music and performers to as wide an audience as possible.
CEO of the CPO Louis Heyneman said: “Our recent annual chamber music festival in Franschhoek and the concerts in the Toringkerk have become part of the social calendar and we are delighted once more to be able to present this major work to a discerning audience.”
CTO’s artistic director Magdalene Minnaar agrees: “The writing for voice in this Requiem is absolutely sublime. It is one of the most coveted oratorios for singers for it contains some of the most riveting vocal writing for both solo and ensemble.
“The quartets are particularly genial in the layering of vocal lines. It is one of my personal favourites to perform myself.”
Tickets are R260 and children under six enter free and are available from Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695 and Webtickets.