It is busy days for the CPO! In between our Summer Symphony Season we are rehearsing for the opera Alcina with the Cape Town Opera and UCT opera school colleagues and just because we weren’t being a diverse orchestra enough yet we played a light program at the Silos at the V&A Waterfront!
Yes it’s busy, but it is also why I love playing in this orchestra. We go from Beethoven 7th Symphony to Händel’s Alcina to Pirates of the Caribbean without a flinch! From our beautiful City Hall to an uncomfortable dark set up to a windy outdoor venue, we do it all and keep on smiling. These South Africans are just the most willing and accommodating people I have ever encountered.
In The Netherlands the orchestra committee, musicians union and singel representations would have had many meetings already and objecting to all this and that and huff puff huff puff…. Here in Cape Town there’s some moaning, but we get on with it.
When I first started in Cape Town there was a bigger mix between Europeans and South Africans and there was more resistance, but over the years the Europeans retired and we got the most lovely young South Africans in return. At the moment the vibe in the orchestra is just lovely and there seems to be zero tolerance to bullshit and negative people. 😃
Still on the menu in the next 5 weeks are 2 symphony concerts, 4 Alcina performances, Lig van Waarheid concert, G&S Gala evening, the Rupert memorial concert in Stellebosch and 7 performances of my favorite ballet The Nutcracker to get us all in the Christmas Spirit! 🎄
Check the CPO website for exact times, places and tickets!
To be continued … 🙂
Roxane Steffen 