Music in Jozi
The mantra “Jozi the city we love to hate” is heard often. And Jozi is indeed an infuriating city. It’s brash, fast, chaotic, edgy and yes, parts can be dangerous. But oh! my word … the people, the way they make things happen, the wonderful events that take place, the opportunities to be transported to places in the mind and soul where there are no thoughts of potholes … like the music events. There are annual events, seasonal performances, once-off concerts for all ages and persuasions. Here are but a few -and you can see from my suggestions, that my musical taste tends to be traditional and conservative!
Seasonal Performances : Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra [JPO]
The JPO presents four symphony seasons each year at the Wits’ Linder Auditorium, an auditorium with really good acoustics. I recently booked my season ticket for the upcoming Winter Season World Symphony Series (WSS). When international guests staying here at Liz at Lancaster have been to a JPO concert, they have been amazed at the musical talent, the scope of the concert and the extraordinarily reasonable price of the tickets. Each season comprises four concerts held on a Thursday evening. There is a low key café, (not the best gourmet food but sandwiches and sushi are usually a good option for a quick light meal), and there is a pre-concert talk which is always informative and interesting.
Annual Screening: The New York Met Live in HD Opera series
These screenings offer another opportunity to experience extraordinary productions at affordable prices. I skived off a couple of weeks ago to see the live HD Met 2025 production of The Marriage of Figaro. Lights were already down as 2 old biddies staggered and fumbled up the dark aisle with no sticks and a combined probable age of near 198. He was bent double and looked weirdly ghoul-like, the torch-light of his cell phone shining upwards into his face. I held my breath watching in fearful trepidation as they came towards my row with him saying loudly, and not unsurprisingly, that he couldn’t see a thing. I got up to help them, taking his cell phone from him, turning it around so it shone downwards and getting them settled in the row in front. A short later, in a moment of relative quiet, she pronounced to her concerned husband, very clearly and very firmly: “NO, I DON’T want water and YES, I CAN see”. Marvelous way to start a very funny farcical fabulous opera!!! And I thought to myself, well if I still have the energy and spirit to get myself to a screening of Live in HD Opera when I am their age, I will be doing very well! Go Centenarians!!
The last 2 in the 2024- 2025 series could not be more different from each other. Strauss’ Salome (Cinema Nouveau Rosebank Mall) looks quite gruelling (with our very own South Africa Elsa Van Den Heever) giving a very contemporary twist to a ‘dark back story“, while Rossini’s Barber of Seville (Cinema Nouveau Rosebank Mall) is full of frothy fun, offering a “riotous evening”.
Annual Festival – St Francis, Parkview Music Festival
An annual music festival is held at St Francis Parish Church in Parkview in May. Sadly its been and gone so watch out for it next year. Like the Linder Auditorium, the acoustics in the Church are excellent so every note of each musician’s instrument could be heard with crystal clarity. I was able to attend two of the various performances this year where the Apple Green Orchestra was playing under the ebullient Tim Roberts who is both condcutor and oboeist (not at the same time I hasten to add). Connections in Music featured a wonderfully varied programme from Richter’s reinterpretations of Vivaldi’s Summer to the beautiful contemporary Il Giorni by Einaudi. I loved the sound of the harpsichord, which belongs to Tim Roberts himself. He explained to me how the keys of this stringed instrument work on a fulcrum basis. When compressed the key raises a mechanism with a small plectrum at the end, which plucks at the string. Tim explained that because the harpsichord has to be tuned every half an hour or so, when Mozart played for longer than this, he would use 3 harpsichords – moving from one to the other. In the second concert I attended, the Apple Green orchestra accompanied the amazing soprano Ilze Van Staden in another wide ranging programme.
As a complete aside. In trying to find an internet link that gives an overview of the St Francis Festival, I came across a blog post VERY obviously written by AI and NOT checked by a human. Although defintely referring to St Francis in Parkview (SA Website: Findmy.co.za, prices quoted in rands etc.), this is but some of what it said about Joiz’s local suburban parish church festival:
Last year’s festival still lingers in my memory those haunting harmonies echoing through the stone archways of St. Francis Cathedral. I can’t wait to experience it again this spring when the 2025 edition transforms our modest town into a haven for choral music enthusiasts. …. This year’s lineup is particularly exciting. The Cambridge Collegium is returning (thank goodness I’ve been replaying their Tallis interpretation for months), alongside newcomers like the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir who’ll bring their distinctive Eastern European sound. I’m especially intrigued by the commissioned piece from composer Eliza Montgomery, who’s [sic] incorporated texts from medieval manuscripts found in the cathedral’s own archives. …. It’s become our town’s cultural cornerstone since its humble beginnings fifteen years ago with just three local choirs.
Methinks that this was not written OR CHECKED by a live breathing human who has any familiarity with Johannebsurg, St Francis in Parkview, or the Festival programme! For more on AI versus human intelligence.
Jozi Opera (aka Johannesburg Opera) Concert Seasons
These wonderful concerts (usually one a month), are held in various places across Joburg including at the ITCorner in Melville or in the beautiful heritage house Northwards, with its sweeping vistas from the Westcliff/Parktown ridge across the suburbs to the north.
Once-off concerts
And staying with the Northwards venue, the Parktown Singers have another 2 concerts coming up on the 7th and 8th June. I’ve written before about this wonderful a cappella foursome who always provide music that feeds the soul. I’m looking forward to hearing Billy Joubert’s two new compositions. Save the date … well at least one of them!
Scullery Quintet
And last but VERY much not least; the Scullery Quintet. This fabulous ensemble is fun, funky, vibrant and contemporary. The group comprises the standard string quartet of first violin (Waldo Luc Alexander), second violin (Hana Yim-Wahl) and viola (Tiisetso Mashishi) with the cello role being replaced by contrabass (Amaeshi Ikechi), with Peter Auret on the drum set making up the quintet. Auret is also responsible for a number of the arrangements. Their music is difficult to fit into a specific genre – it’s a crossover between classical and contemporary with what seems like a fair bit of jazz impro. Whatever it is, it’s completely wonderful and you will come out with a bounce in your step, a smile on your face and not one thought given to potholes!! They don’t perform often so keep an eye out for them when they do.
