5:20 OPERAS
This week only at the Baxter, a programme of five new South African operas each 20 minutes long. Presented by Cape Town Opera, UCT Opera School and Gipca, FIVE:20 features work by Hendrik Hofmeyr, Peter Klatzow, Peter Louis van Dijk, Bongani Ndodana-Breen and Martin Watt, with plots based on Saartjie Baartman, Lucy Lloyd and the Bushmen, xenophobia, the assassination of Chris Hani and Breyten Breytenbach's prison poetry. Directed by Geoffrey Hyland and Marcus Desando. There is also a special guest performance of Nick Fells's Sublimation from a conceptually similar concert staged in Scotland.
Baxter Theatre
Tues 23, Weds 24, Fri 26, Sat 27 19h00
021 685 7880 www.baxter.co.za R150 and R100
GUITAR MAESTROS AT THE OLYMPIA BAKERY
Acoustic guitar wizard Antonio Forcione has a formidable international record of concerts and collaborations and rave reviews. He will team up with Tony Cox and Cape Town flamenco guitarist Saudiq Khan for five shows only at the Olympia Bakery this week. The Stage magazine wrote about Forcione: “A performer of world class status ... forceful and with an enviable technique, he takes the guitar to new levels of expression combining its melodic powers with dramatic percussive effects. He boldly goes where no guitarist has gone before and the results are quite spectacular ..."
Olympia Bakery,
Wednesday 24 to Sunday 28 20h00
Cost R180
www.antonioforcione.com
www.computicket.com
SOLMS-DELTA SUMMER CONCERT
This summer concert is a good opportunity to visit the Solms-Delta wine estate near Franschoek which has departed in such significant ways from the mainstream way of doing things on the winelands, with the workers owning a one-third stake in the the estate. One project worth seeing is a museum about slavery in the area, and there's also a programme to "preserve and celebrate the joyous, resilient and defiant musical traditions of the Cape winelands." In this concert blues guitarist Hannes Coetzee performs with local bands Delta Soetstemme, Delta Langbroeke and Lekker Lekker Delta.
Solms-Delta Wine Estate, Delta Road (off the R45)
Saturday 27 18h30 to 21h30
Cost: R 170 (incl. buffet) (< 12 R 85) Tel: 021 874 3937 ext 115
Acoustic guitar wizard Antonio Forcione has a formidable international record of concerts and collaborations and rave reviews. He will team up with Tony Cox and Cape Town flamenco guitarist Saudiq Khan for five shows only at the Olympia Bakery this week. The Stage magazine wrote about Forcione: “A performer of world class status ... forceful and with an enviable technique, he takes the guitar to new levels of expression combining its melodic powers with dramatic percussive effects. He boldly goes where no guitarist has gone before and the results are quite spectacular ..."
Olympia Bakery,
Wednesday 24 to Sunday 28 20h00
Cost R180
www.antonioforcione.com
www.computicket.com
SOLMS-DELTA SUMMER CONCERT
This summer concert is a good opportunity to visit the Solms-Delta wine estate near Franschoek which has departed in such significant ways from the mainstream way of doing things on the winelands, with the workers owning a one-third stake in the the estate. One project worth seeing is a museum about slavery in the area, and there's also a programme to "preserve and celebrate the joyous, resilient and defiant musical traditions of the Cape winelands." In this concert blues guitarist Hannes Coetzee performs with local bands Delta Soetstemme, Delta Langbroeke and Lekker Lekker Delta.
Solms-Delta Wine Estate, Delta Road (off the R45)
Saturday 27 18h30 to 21h30
Cost: R 170 (incl. buffet) (< 12 R 85) Tel: 021 874 3937 ext 115
CAPE DANCE COMPANY AT ARTSCAPE
The Cape Dance Company celebrates its 15th year with a diverse season at the Artscape Theatre from Wednesday. The company performed at the Edinburgh festival recently and reviews were mixed, but this new season includes some choreographic works that sound really worth seeing. One of these is Enemy Behind the Gates an award-winning contemporary ballet by Christopher Huggins, ex-Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Other works on the programme are by Alfred Hinkel of Jazzart, Brazilian/American Carlos Dos Santos and "cult classic" On the Wings of Sue by French choreographer Redha, re-staged here by Esther Nasser.
Opens Wednesday 24, runs till 4 December 20h15
Artscape Dial-a-seat 021 4217695
The Cape Dance Company celebrates its 15th year with a diverse season at the Artscape Theatre from Wednesday. The company performed at the Edinburgh festival recently and reviews were mixed, but this new season includes some choreographic works that sound really worth seeing. One of these is Enemy Behind the Gates an award-winning contemporary ballet by Christopher Huggins, ex-Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Other works on the programme are by Alfred Hinkel of Jazzart, Brazilian/American Carlos Dos Santos and "cult classic" On the Wings of Sue by French choreographer Redha, re-staged here by Esther Nasser.
Opens Wednesday 24, runs till 4 December 20h15
Artscape Dial-a-seat 021 4217695
ENTER THE MAIDS
Asanda Phewa was UCT's "best theatre-maker of 2008". This production, to be staged in an historic church, is her "interjection" of Jean Genet's 1952 play The Maids.
Central Methodist Church
Corner Longmarket and Burg Streets
Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 20h00
Book at 021 4473683 or artsadmin@mweb.co.za
GRAND OPENING OF FIVE EXHIBITIONS AT SANG
SA National Gallery will be launching five new or new-ish exhibitions at a "grand opening" on Saturday.
1) Borders, an exhibition from the Bamako Encounters 8th African Photographic Biennale.
2) A retrospective of Louis Maqhubela
3) Photography by Roger Ballen
4) Imagining Beauty in which textiles and items of adornment from Iziko’s permanent collections are put together with a selection of award-winning fashion designers such as Black Coffee, Craig Native, Darkie and others. "Included are works of superb southern African beadwork; the work of Michael Kra’s collaboration with San artists; and the edgy designs of Beloved Beads, a fusion of the best British and African designs. A rare Rwandan crown, worn by the royalty of the Great Lakes region shortly before its collapse, as depicted in Irma Stern’s famous portrait of Queen Gicanda in 1942, is also on view."
5) In Context was originally conceived as a series of site-specific exhibitions and interventions in and around Johannesburg over the period of the FIFA World Cup in June 2010. It features "a diverse group of contemporary international and South African artists who explore the dynamics and tensions of place, in reference to the African continent."
SA National Gallery
SA National Gallery will be launching five new or new-ish exhibitions at a "grand opening" on Saturday.
1) Borders, an exhibition from the Bamako Encounters 8th African Photographic Biennale.
2) A retrospective of Louis Maqhubela
3) Photography by Roger Ballen
4) Imagining Beauty in which textiles and items of adornment from Iziko’s permanent collections are put together with a selection of award-winning fashion designers such as Black Coffee, Craig Native, Darkie and others. "Included are works of superb southern African beadwork; the work of Michael Kra’s collaboration with San artists; and the edgy designs of Beloved Beads, a fusion of the best British and African designs. A rare Rwandan crown, worn by the royalty of the Great Lakes region shortly before its collapse, as depicted in Irma Stern’s famous portrait of Queen Gicanda in 1942, is also on view."
5) In Context was originally conceived as a series of site-specific exhibitions and interventions in and around Johannesburg over the period of the FIFA World Cup in June 2010. It features "a diverse group of contemporary international and South African artists who explore the dynamics and tensions of place, in reference to the African continent."
SA National Gallery
Opening on Saturday 27 November at 17h30 for 18h00
WRITING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
The winners of the 2009 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, Alex Smith (for Agency Blue) and Adeline Radloff (for Sidekick) will be in discussion about writing for young people at the Book Lounge this Tuesday evening.
Book Lounge
Tuesday 23 18h00
DEEPER THAN COLOUR: EU LITERARY AWARD WINNER
James Clelland has won the 2010 EU Literary Award for this novel which deals with the effect that South Africa's border war had on young white conscripts. The Jury for the award commented: “Deeper than Colour tells a tale that is seldom told in the new South Africa: the effects of supporting apartheid on the white population. A bitter and disturbing but compulsively readable book, Deeper than Colour raises unsettling questions about our socially fractured society.”
Book Lounge
Wednesday 24 17h30
POETRY AT THE BOOK LOUNGE
The winners of the 2009 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, Alex Smith (for Agency Blue) and Adeline Radloff (for Sidekick) will be in discussion about writing for young people at the Book Lounge this Tuesday evening.
Book Lounge
Tuesday 23 18h00
DEEPER THAN COLOUR: EU LITERARY AWARD WINNER
James Clelland has won the 2010 EU Literary Award for this novel which deals with the effect that South Africa's border war had on young white conscripts. The Jury for the award commented: “Deeper than Colour tells a tale that is seldom told in the new South Africa: the effects of supporting apartheid on the white population. A bitter and disturbing but compulsively readable book, Deeper than Colour raises unsettling questions about our socially fractured society.”
Book Lounge
Wednesday 24 17h30
POETRY AT THE BOOK LOUNGE
In my last posting I wrote about It's Difficult to Explain, an anthology of poems by students of Finuala Dowling's class, which includes a brief memoir of her experiences as a poetry teacher. For "all who prefer their poetry with more than a dash of intelligence and noticeably devoid of sentimentality" it will be launched at the Book Lounge on Thursday.
Book Lounge
Thursday 25 17h30 for 18h00
AUTOBIOGRAPHY: IN THE DARK WITH MY DRESS ON FIRE
This is the haunting title of the autobiography by Blanche La Guma who "lived out her passionate commitment to justice" as a nurse-midwife in poor black communities, supporter of her writer-activist husband Alex La Guma, mother of two sons, and as an underground activist. It will be launched together with a biography of Alex La Guma by Roger Field, at Lobby Books this Thursday, with Albie Sachs as guest speaker.
Lobby Books Spin Street Cape Town
Thursday 25 17h30
RSVP to aspath@idasa.org.za
This is the haunting title of the autobiography by Blanche La Guma who "lived out her passionate commitment to justice" as a nurse-midwife in poor black communities, supporter of her writer-activist husband Alex La Guma, mother of two sons, and as an underground activist. It will be launched together with a biography of Alex La Guma by Roger Field, at Lobby Books this Thursday, with Albie Sachs as guest speaker.
Lobby Books Spin Street Cape Town
Thursday 25 17h30
RSVP to aspath@idasa.org.za
MADE IN TRANSLATION: IMAGES FROM AND OF THE LANDSCAPE
This new exhibition at the SA Museum deals with copies made of rock paintings and engravings, which are seen as acts of translation. "It showcases a diverse range of translations including the works of copyists from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. A collection by Leo Frobenius who explored southern Africa with a team of ethnographers and artists between 1928 and 1930 reveals the remarkable large-scale copies his project produced. Included in the exhibition are copies by, amongst others, George Stow, Helen Tongue, Dorothea Bleek, Joseph Orpen and Charles Schunke. It also includes insights of contemporary scholars, historical and contemporary photographs, and translations of San texts and stories." Curated by Pippa Skotnes of Michaelis art school and Petro Keene of Iziko museums.
The South African Museum
Opened Sunday 21 November and will run till November 2011
This new exhibition at the SA Museum deals with copies made of rock paintings and engravings, which are seen as acts of translation. "It showcases a diverse range of translations including the works of copyists from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. A collection by Leo Frobenius who explored southern Africa with a team of ethnographers and artists between 1928 and 1930 reveals the remarkable large-scale copies his project produced. Included in the exhibition are copies by, amongst others, George Stow, Helen Tongue, Dorothea Bleek, Joseph Orpen and Charles Schunke. It also includes insights of contemporary scholars, historical and contemporary photographs, and translations of San texts and stories." Curated by Pippa Skotnes of Michaelis art school and Petro Keene of Iziko museums.
The South African Museum
Opened Sunday 21 November and will run till November 2011
VIRTUAL EARTH
While at the SA Museum, you might want to take young visitors to the newly-opened Virtual Earth. This is a Gaiasphere, "an interactive digital theatre housed in a back-projected hemisphere with which animations of changes happening on the earth’s surface can be shown." From a touch screen you will be able to select different views of our changing earth, such as the earth at night, ozone hole evolution, earth surface temperatures, earth core structure etc.
SA Museum
20 November to August 2011
SHOPPING NEWS: BLUE BIRD GARAGE MARKET
A new neighborhood market has recently opened in Muizenberg. Blue Bird Garage is on every Friday afternoon into evening in a beautiful old converted warehouse just next to the railway line in Albertyn Road. There's lots of home-made food, craft, jewellery, clothing and book stalls, and a kids' corner. The organizers say they are planning a Sunday antique and vintage market some time soon.
Blue Bird Garage Albertyn Road Muizenberg
15h00 to 21h00 every Friday
While at the SA Museum, you might want to take young visitors to the newly-opened Virtual Earth. This is a Gaiasphere, "an interactive digital theatre housed in a back-projected hemisphere with which animations of changes happening on the earth’s surface can be shown." From a touch screen you will be able to select different views of our changing earth, such as the earth at night, ozone hole evolution, earth surface temperatures, earth core structure etc.
SA Museum
20 November to August 2011
SHOPPING NEWS: BLUE BIRD GARAGE MARKET
A new neighborhood market has recently opened in Muizenberg. Blue Bird Garage is on every Friday afternoon into evening in a beautiful old converted warehouse just next to the railway line in Albertyn Road. There's lots of home-made food, craft, jewellery, clothing and book stalls, and a kids' corner. The organizers say they are planning a Sunday antique and vintage market some time soon.
Blue Bird Garage Albertyn Road Muizenberg
15h00 to 21h00 every Friday
