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. [...]
Messiah study day
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church De WaterkantIn addition to the two performances of Handel's Messiah on 28 and 30 November in Cape Town and Hermanus respectively, we are also presenting a Messiah study day on Sunday, 24 November, 12:00-15:00 at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, De Waterkant. The study day will include a historical background to Messiah, demonstrations by CTBO instrumentalists and Lutesong Consort singers about aspects of period performance, a background to the [...]
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 [...]
Handel’s ‘Messiah’ – Hermanus
Dutch Reformed Church, Hermanus Church st, HermanusAfter 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 [...]