49th Western Cape Youth Music Festival - 13 December
Amongst the various productions to be showcased includes the 49th Western Cape Youth Music Festival, which will be celebrated with nine extraordinarily talented musicians who were selected from virtual auditions. The soloists are Cameron Williams (age 23) on Clarinet who will perform a duet with Stephane Lawrenson (23) on viola, Nicola McLachlan (21) on cello, Eléna Monvoisin (10) is the youngest, plays the oboe and Liam Slabbert (18) bassoon. There are four pianists; Daniel Brodie (20), Jacqueline Choi (18), Rosemarie Lemmer (22) and Ying-Shan Tseng (18) who is unsighted will perform a piano concerto with the orchestra. Fine Music Radio (FMR) will broadcast the concert on Sunday, 13 December between 3pm and 5pm and Artscape YouTube streaming will be online from 13 December.
Patrons will also be able to tune into Youth in Action, a music show featuring new and young artists who will dazzle with sizzling performances of a variety of songs from both local and international musicians on 17 December. Many of those artists will be performing on the Artscape stage for the first time and forms part of the cultural institution’s commitment to nurture and develop youth by providing opportunities in the arts sector.
On the 18 December, Artscape will showcase the 21 Questions - Unmute Lunch Hour Concert. The production engages with disability stereotypes through documented questions that people pose upon persons with a disability, as is the case for Nadine McKenzie, artistic director of Unmute. She has been living with a disability since she was a toddler and has been faced with strange questions that assume and suggest that persons with disability are a different species to humans. The production will use South African Sign Language to create a movement conversation with shadow images and a hanging/flying sculpture as a metaphor for society’s voices versus the inner child that lies within us.
Professor Dizu Plaatjies, internationally acclaimed musician along with the soulful voice of Zinzi Nogavu will bring patrons a strong and powerful concert with compliments of indigenous sounds, which aims to feed you with Isingqi Swakwanto. Directed by Mandisi Dyantyis, the concert on 21 December will display the beauty of African Music intended on taking the audience through the journey of various indigenous instruments and repertoire.
On 26 December, patrons will be able to tune into Jungle Theatre’s performance of Mantis and The Bee – a humorous exploration of /Xam mythology while the origin of life will showcase too. Written and directed by Joce Engelbrecht, this children’s show is based on a story of the first people. Mantis and the Bee were created by the Rain and the Flame to go on an epic journey in search of life. They get involved in an action-comedy adventure in a world before the earth was created. Discover the magic hidden inside the stories of the first people called /Xam.
Ukuwa Kwe Nkaba, loosely translated, means ‘the cutting or falling of the umbilical cord’ takes centre stage on 28 December. Through music, movement and drama, the plight of women who are forced to raise their children on their own is tackled. Fathers are absent or have absconded. In many cases, they are around but they refuse to take on the responsibility of parenting. However, when these children grow up and become young adults, they understandably want to know who their fathers are, what their roots are, to complete their own lives. This powerful play, by Light of Life Theatre Organisation, calls on mothers to tell their children the truth, no matter how painful.
Artscape will showcase the last lunch hour concert of the year on 30 December, with Zip Zap’s Once Upon a Circus Lunch Hour Concert. It is an imaginative production that aims to entice the audience into a sneak-peek of ‘circus’ life, both behind-the-scenes and on stage, through the lens of an inquisitive and mischievous character, called Trompie. He invites the viewers to explore a wondrous circus world, bringing you aesthetic artistic creations as well as breath-taking action shots, capturing the grace, strength and skill of our circus performers. ‘Once Upon a Circus’ also symbolises greater values and meaning, as it unveils that our little circus in the heart of Cape Town, is in fact, a microcosm of a true ‘Rainbow Nation’ South Africa. The story reveals the possibility of social transformation and youth empowerment through the circus arts.
A sizzling performance by Women Unite will wrap up the festivities on 3 January. Their versatility, virtuosity and infectious rousing performances have greatly amplified the impact of African music in Cape Town and around the world and feature traditional African Music combined with jazz and modern. The band is led by the award-winning performer, Thandi Swaartbooi.
These productions were recorded during Covid-19, with the necessary safety measures practised and made possible by Artscape, with support from the City of Cape Town and can be accessed for free via Artscape's Youtube channel from from 13 December.
