Mrs Philarmonica – a South African Premiere (2025 Cape Town Baroque Festival - EVENT 4)
2025-09-27 11:00 - 12:00 (Africa/Johannesburg) | UCT Irma Stern Museum, 21 Cecil Road, Rosebank, Western Cape, South Africa
The Cape Town Baroque Trio presents a programme of music by the early 18th-century English female composer Mrs Philarmonica, whose actual identity remains unknown up to this day. There are only two extant collections of music composed by her, both published under the pseudonym ‘Mrs Philarmonica’. In this programme, compiled by Annien Shaw and consisting of trio sonatas by the ever-elusive Mrs Philarmonica, we celebrate female composers of the Baroque and bring to light the work of a composer of very expressive and complex music who had been forgotten by history for a long time.
This concert will be presented at, and in collaboration with, the Irma Stern Museum on the University of Cape Town campus, thereby emphasising the important contribution, from the 18th to the 20th century, of female artists and composers. The Cape Town Baroque Trio consists of three Cape Town Baroque Orchestra section leaders, namely Annien Shaw (baroque violin), Ralitza Macheva (baroque violin) and Rosamund Roth (baroque cello), who specialise in playing chamber music from the Baroque on period instruments. They will be joined by Erik Dippenaar (spinet).
Date: Saturday, 27 September
Time: 11:00-12:00
Venue: UCT Irma Stern Museum, Rosebank
Tickets: R250 (regular), R220 (pensioners), R100 (learners/students). Book fast – this is an intimate concert, with only 40 tickets available!
Enquiries can be directed to info@ctbaroque.co.za.
BOOK HERE
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This is Event 4 in our 2025 Cape Town Baroque Festival. Click here for a downloadable summary of all the festival events. We are offering a limited number of discounted festival passes, which include access to all fourfestival concerts (i.e., excluding Event 1, which is an educational event). Book a festival pass here.
The 2025 Cape Town Baroque Festival is generously supported by the Rupert Musiekstigting, Bill van Rensburg, the RHL Foundation, and the Cape Town Theatre Trust.
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A short example of the ever-mysterious Mrs Philarmonica’s music (played here by Le Consort):

A Tribute to Telemann (2025 Cape Town Baroque Festival - EVENT 5) - with a pre-concert talk by Anna Stoddard
2025-09-27 19:00 - 20:30 | St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, De Waterkant
In this programme, we celebrate the great skill and diversity of the expressive styles found in the orchestral works of Georg Telemann. The 2025 Cape Town Baroque Festival’s international visiting baroque specialists, Zefira Valova (baroque violin) and Erik Bosgraaf (recorder, chalumeau, harpsichord), will perform as soloists in this concert alongside local players Ralitza Macheva and Annien Shaw (baroque violins) and David Cyster (chalumeau). A high point in the programme will be the young South African clarinettist David Cyster, who recently started learning the chalumeau (the historical version of the modern clarinet), performing in a double concerto for two chalumeaux with Erik Bosgraaf, who will direct the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra in this programme of double concerti and orchestral works by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767). You can view the full programme for this concert here.
Date: Saturday, 27 September
Time: 19:00-20:30 (with a pre-concert talk by Anna Stoddard at 18:00). Please also join us for a complimentary glass of wine after the concert.
Venue: St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, De Waterkant
Tickets: R280 (regular), R240 (pensioners), R100 (learners/students)
Enquiries can be directed to info@ctbaroque.co.za.
BOOK HERE
***
This is Event 5 in our 2025 Cape Town Baroque Festival. Click here for a downloadable summary of all the festival events. We are offering a limited number of discounted festival passes, which include access to all fourfestival concerts (i.e., excluding Event 1, which is an educational event). Book a festival pass here.
The 2025 Cape Town Baroque Festival is generously supported by the Rupert Musiekstigting, Bill van Rensburg, the RHL Foundation, and the Cape Town Theatre Trust.

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Have you heard of the chalumeau before? Here is a short video of Erik Bosgraaf playing Telemann on the alto chalumeau (Gigue from the Suite in F major for alto chalumeau, tenor chalumeau and two viola da gambas TWV 44:6):

Salsa Baroque – 17th and 18th century music from Latin America and Spain (Thu, 20 Nov)
2025-11-20 19:00 - 20:00 | Baxter Concert Hall, Baxter Concert Hall, Rondebosch
The Cape Town Baroque Orchestra, in collaboration with the Cape Town Concert Series and singers of Lutesong Consort, invites you on a dazzling journey where baroque music from the Old World meets the vibrant rhythms of the New World. Salsa Baroque celebrates the fusion of European polyphony with the infectious dances of Latin America, born from the meeting of Spanish, African, and indigenous traditions. From the lively chaconas and jácaras of Spain to the spirited villancicos of Mexico and Bolivia, this program bursts with energy, colour, and rhythmic vitality. The programme will be directed by Canadian recorder and baroque flute virtuoso, Matthias Maute, and it will also feature the African premiere of his newly created recorder concerto, using material by Padre Antonio Soler (1729-1783), with Maute as soloist.
Cape Town Baroque Orchestra: Annien Shaw, Ralitza Macheva (baroque violins), Emile de Roubaix (baroque viola), Rosamund Roth (viol), Henrike Kovats (baroque double bass), Uwe Grosser (baroque guitar), Lilavan Gangen (percussion) and Erik Dippenaar (harpsichord/organ).
Lutesong Consort: Vasti Zeeman-Knoesen (soprano), Lente Louw (alto, Lutesong Consort Artistic Director), Jason Atherton (tenor) and Keaton Manwaring (bass).
Date: Thursday, 20 November 2025
Time: 19:00
Venue: Baxter Concert Hall, Rosebank
Tickets: R280 (regular), R230 (pensioners), R100 (learners/students), available on Webtickets.
Enquiries can be directed to info@ctconcerts.co.za.
BOOK HERE
