Celebrating Handel: The Cape Town Baroque Orchestra with Lynelle Kenned (soprano) – Cape Town performance – 25 May
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church De WaterkantCelebrating Handel: The Cape Town Baroque Orchestra with Lynelle Kenned (soprano) The Cape Town Baroque Orchestra presents an exciting programme of vocal and instrumental repertoire, celebrating the expressiveness and vitality of the music of George Frideric Handel (1685–1759). The centrepiece of the programme is Handel’s Gloria, sung by Lynelle Kenned. This composition, which was probably [...]
The Four Nations – Cape Town Baroque Orchestra with Matthias Maute (recorder/traverso)
South African Sendinggestigmuseum 40 Long Street, Cape Town, South AfricaAntonio Vivaldi's cycle of descriptive violin concertos, “The Four Seasons”, counts among the most famous music ever devised. However, another cycle of four recorder concertos with descriptive titles by the same composer has remained in (relative) obscurity, namely: Concerto La Francia (France) Concerto La Spagna (Spain) Concerto L'Inghilterro (England) Concerto Il Gran Mogol (India) The [...]
Angels and Shepherds: A German Baroque Christmas
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church De WaterkantThe Cape Town Baroque Orchestra in collaboration with the Lutesong Consort will present a concert of festive Christmas music by German Baroque composers for 8 solo voices and chamber orchestra. The contrast between the immense significance of the Incarnation and its humble pastoral setting has always been a rich source of inspiration for artists and [...]
Narratives (Cape Town Baroque Trio at Klein Karoo Klassique)
Oudtshoorn Civic Centre / Burgersentrum Vrede Street, OudtshoornThe Cape Town Baroque Trio explores various methods of instrumental narration from the baroque era. The baroque practices of affect, rhetoric, allegory and symbolism are demonstrated in the programme, where seasoned baroque instrumentalists Annien Shaw (baroque violin), Ralitza Macheva (baroque violin) and Rosamund Ender (viola da gamba) perform works by Corelli, Biber, Telemann, and Vivaldi. [...]
2024 Cape Town Baroque Festival (CTBF)
Various venues across Cape Town2024 Cape Town Baroque Festival REVELATIONS! The annual Cape Town Baroque Festival, presented by the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra, will take place from 21 to 24 September 2024. The programming of the 2024 Cape Town Baroque Festival – titled Revelations! – revolves around the idea of concealing and revealing, which permeates the individual programmes on [...]
Event 1: Variations
UCT Irma Stern Museum 21 Cecil Road, Rosebank, Western Cape, South AfricaA popular genre during the baroque period was so-called ‘sets of variations’ or ‘divisions’: Composers often composed variations and embellishments on songs, folk melodies or hymns. Members of the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra, Ralitza Macheva (baroque violin), Erik Dippenaar (harpsichord) and Lynelle Kenned (soprano) present a programme of expressive sets of variations from the baroque, [...]
Event 2: Les Arts Florissants
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church De WaterkantLutesong Consort presents a concert performance of the French allegorical mini-opera Les arts florissants by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704). In this hòmage to Louis XIV (self-styled arts patron, warlord and ultimate monarch), 'the arts' are the characters: 'La Musique' (Music), 'La Poèsie' (Poetry), 'La Peinture' (Painting) and 'L'Architecture' (Architecture) resolve a dispute between 'La Paix' (Peace) and 'La Discord' [...]
Event 3: Venice, Vivaldi and the Ospedale della Pietà
South African Sendinggestigmuseum 40 Long Street, Cape Town, South AfricaThe Ospedale della Pietà was an orphanage-convent in Venice that was one of four so-called “Ospedali Grandi” (charitable hospices, which provided a wide range of services for the needy of Venice). In these institutions, music played an important part in the education of the inhabitants (all girls in the case of the Ospedale della Pietà). By the 18th century, [...]
Narratives (Cape Town Baroque Trio at Woordfees)
Oudtshoorn Civic Centre / Burgersentrum Vrede Street, OudtshoornThe Cape Town Baroque Trio explores various methods of instrumental narration from the baroque era. The baroque practices of affect, rhetoric, allegory and symbolism are demonstrated in the programme, where seasoned baroque instrumentalists Annien Shaw (baroque violin), Ralitza Macheva (baroque violin) and Rosamund Ender (viola da gamba) perform works by Corelli, Biber, Telemann, and Vivaldi. [...]
Handel’s ‘Messiah’ – Cape Town
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church De WaterkantAfter the first performances of Messiah in Dublin in 1742, Handel performed the oratorio several times more during his lifetime. For each of these performances, he adjusted the work according to the singers and instrumentalists available to him - a common practice during the baroque period. Following the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra’s (CTBO) reconstruction of the first [...]