THREE classical gems take to the cavernous stage of the Guy Butler Auditorium in the 1820 Settlers National Monument on Gunfire Hill in Grahamstown within two days of each other at the 2017 National Arts Festival.
The Festival runs from Thursday June 29 to Sunday July 9 and features in the region of 700 productions in the Main and Fringe programmes.
There are also additions to the Main and Fringe in the form of The Arena, Student Theatre, Think!Fest, Standard Bank Jazz Festival, Film Festival, SpritFest and Children’s Festival.
Then there is the Village Green with its scores of stalls taking up the interior spaces of several huge marquees and selling art, craft, clothing, carpets, woodwork and food – plenty of food – and refreshment in its liquid form.
The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra will delight lovers of classical music with two appearances at Festival, with different conductors wielding the baton.
Bernhard Gueller will conduct the renowned orchestra in the Symphony Concert on Friday evening, July 7. For the first time in six years, South Africa’s oldest orchestra is back at the National Arts Festival, and will without doubt fill the auditorium.
Mid-afternoon the following day sees the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Richard Cock on this occasion, presenting “All Strings Attached”, the Festival Gala Concert.
Also occupying the Guy Butler Auditorium in the latter days of festival will be members of Johannesburg Youth Ballet with their presentation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream –The Ballet”.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream deals with the universal theme of love and its complications.
See the full story in this week’s Talk of the Town.
