Those who know me and/or have read my blogs before know that I am an orchestral player, to my core I’d say. I love interpreting orchestral parts combined with the directions of a maestro and blending my playing with my fellow orchestra musicians. I have been doing this for almost 40 years now, 30 years… Continue reading I’m just an orchestral bass player …
Tag: cape town philharmonic orchestra
Where do we put the bass…???
In my last blog I had my little rant as a full time player in an orchestra about having to deal with being seated on a side where you are normally not seated which then feels like it’s the ‘wrong’ side. But what about when you play chamber music?? 🤷🏼♀️ At the moment of writing… Continue reading Where do we put the bass…???
On the ‘wrong’ side??
Over the centuries a standard was created concerning the set up of a philharmonic orchestra, specially the string sections. From left to right = from high to low. At the orchestras around the world where this is not the case they still have a regular set up and everyone is used to that. Enough space… Continue reading On the ‘wrong’ side??
To be continued … 🙂
This is what I write after every blog, but the continuation ended October 2023 ... As many readers know, as you are from Cape Town, my fabulous student Kyle Smith passed away in September 2023. I tried to hold myself up for as long as I could, pretending it just didn't happen helped for some… Continue reading To be continued … 🙂
Shoulder Killers
As a fulltime orchestra musician you always look out for the ‘new’ schedule which states what we will be playing in the coming months. Much happiness when your favorite piece is coming up or something you haven’t played before and you’re keen to play it. 🙌🏻🫶 Less happiness when you see a ‘shoulder killer’ …..… Continue reading Shoulder Killers
Journeys of the Soul
Journeys of the Soul is the name of the production that we're playing this week. It is a collaboration between Jazzart Dance Theatre & Phoenix Dance Theatre (Great Britain), Cape Town Opera & Opera North (Great Britain) and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and is a "thought-provoking and poignant expression of remembrance and rebirth in… Continue reading Journeys of the Soul
Bollywood Surprises
We, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, have had various collaborations with our colleagues from the East and, I'm speaking frankly here, they were long and quite boringly orchestrated concerts so not very interesting for us. So when the Symphony of Love concert featuring 'the sensational songstress from India, Pratibha Singh Baghel', came up in our… Continue reading Bollywood Surprises
Langa’s talents
My last blog ended with praising the youthful talent in Cape Town and last week there was just more of the same! For our last community concert (with CPO) we travelled to Langa, one of the townships along the N2. When going to the poorer areas we are always aware and a bit wary as… Continue reading Langa’s talents
Roxane Steffen 