2015 soweto theatre, johannesburg - … · director’s notes words from a broken ... raising the...
TRANSCRIPT
Programme
Aug2015
Aug2015
Aug201507 08 09
SOWETO THEATRE, JOHANNESBURG
DURATION _ 1 HR. 10MIN
Conductor: Graham Scott
Three operas by P Klatzow, B Ndodana – Breen and Martin Watt
Hani, Tronkvoel, Words from a broken string
20:00 17:00 15:00
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Black Tie Ensemble Trust (in no particular order)
Caryn Myers (Chairperson) Marcus Tebogo DesandoRoy MarcusArnold CloeteDeirdre MarcusTracy Norman
BOARD OF DIRECTORSGauteng Opera
(in no particular order)
Caryn MyersMarcus Tebogo DesandoTracy NormanAnnja LoucaClaudia SkinnerXhanti PayiVista Kalipa
EXECUTIVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Caryn MyersMarcus Tebogo DesandoTracy Norman
INTERNATIONAL ARTISTIC ADVISORS
Philipp PointnerArjan Tien
ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT
Marcus Tebogo Desando (Chief Executive Officer)
Arnold Cloete(Chief Operating Officer)
ARTISTIC DEPARTMENT
Denzil Weale – Repetiteur Khumbuzile Dhlamini - SoloistPhenye Modiane - SoloistKagiso Boroko - Soloist
INTERNS
Bongani Nomcweya (administrative)
Pretty Skhosana (Artistic)
SUPPORT STAFF
Beauty Nkabinde (Office Cleaner)
Gauteng Opera Cula Mzansi
With the rise of Opera singers and international fame of South African singers, it has become very important that Gauteng Opera and other South African opera companies commit ourselves to also creating Operas that will speak to us as a people and country. With this in mind we at Gauteng Opera have committed this move as part of the mission statement moving forward. Cula Mzansi is a beginning of a wonderful series which will be called “Cula Mzansi – New Opera Series” this will mean that we will be pursuing the creation of a new opera every year in Gauteng and hopefully share with the world our wonderful stories. I chose to start this series with operas that have already been performed once before in Cape Town as an introduction and productions that will resonate with as here in Gauteng.
We had to start by finding a dynamic group of creatives to breathe new life to these operas and with this great creative team that includes Wilhelm Disbergen a very talented and visionary designer we knew that we will create a great set that will be honest and true to the three operas. As CEO I am tasked with constantly looking for new voices in the opera world and not just singers or artist but also directors who will leave us questioning, enjoying and loving the production but most importantly leaving us feeling as if we were transported to another wonderful place of OPERA. We are looking forward to a great run and would like to thank you all very much for you constant support.
Marcus Desando
Director’s notes
Words from a broken string
“All people become Spirit people when they die” Africans celebrate their ancestors as a vessel to spiritual wellbeing and we look to them for guidance whether in rituals, rite of passage and even in trying times. Words from a broken string allowed me to look at how we are affected by the past and also how much of our lives are because of the kind of guidance we receive from the ancestors. //Kabbo speaks of Spirit people who have shown him what is real and how the preservation of his language is important. So as a director I always look to find a connection that will allow me to be honest with my approach and my love for human movement became my driving force. In this production I have endeavoured to explore our connection with the spirit world and also show the kind of dedication //kabbo and Lucy had in safe guarding the /xam and /kum language. I wish to engage you to travel on the journey along with us.
Marcus Tebogo Desando
Tronkvoel
The minute I read the libretto and came across the phrase “I am not an afrikaaner anymore”, I was intrigued, I have always longed for material that offers a different story from the apartheid era, a voice that comes with a sense of healing from the racial disease that we are faced with as a country, I knew this was a story I wanted my audience and cycle of friends to learn about.
To help them judge humans on a scale of humanity and not the colour of their skin, personally through this piece, I have met and embraced the kindness of bryten and importantly it has fueled the process of healing in a young black man, I hope as an audience this piece teaches you that humanity is heart rooted and not racially defined.
Tshepo Ratona
Hani
Chris Hani is quoted as saying, “the real problems of the country are not whether one is in Cabinet...but what we do for social upliftment of the working masses of our country”. It is this Spirit we attempt to reawaken and with which we aim to connect. Invocation relies on surrendering and honouring the need within in order to connect with another. The process of creating this piece has had its artistic challenges,however,when one works with such inspired
performers artistic challenges are unravelled and re-threaded to create a fabric that allows for interdisciplinary experimentation like no other. Thank you to Gauteng Opera for providing me, a theatre director, an opportunity to debut in their esteemed home;to the cast for their playful generosity and to the composer and librettist for daring to wonder about raising the Spirit of Chris Hani. GoddessBless.
Warona Seane
OPERA
Composers
Directors
Martin Watt
(Tronkvoel)
Warona Seane
Natalie Bath
Thamsanqa KhabaTshepo Ratona
Elizabeth Lombard
Njabulo Mthimkhulu
Peter Klazow
(Words from a broken string)
Creative Team
Graham Scott
(Conductor)
Wilhelm Disbergen
(Set & Lighting Designer)
Bongani Ndodana-Breen
(Hani)
Marcus Tebogo Desando
Khumbuzile Dhlamini
Kagiso Boroko Coert Grobbelaar Phenye Modiane
Sibusiso Shandu
Cast
SOPRANOS
Khayakazi MadlalaThabisile NkosiLeana LeuvenninkDoreen TibanaAbongile Ntulini
TENORS
Bantu KamtalaLindokuhle MasoZolile NgudleTshepo SkosanaTana Stokwe
ALTOS
Nomfundo GabuzaNoxolo JebePretty SkhosanaYandiswa Mtotoba
BASSES
Siyabonga DingiswayoNkosinathi MalumaneLesego MoatsheLesego RamatsidisiSolly Motaung
Gauteng Opera Chorus
Gauteng Opera Orchestra
Violin 1
Camelia Onea (leader)Evert Van Niekerk
Viara MarkovaIvo Ivanov
Violin 2
Leonie GreylingHana Yim-WahlMaria Branco
Viola
Valery AndreevMorkel Combrink
Cello
Kerryn WisniewskiMaren Du Plessis
Contrabass
Nico Kruger
Clarinet
Lizet Smith
Flute
Anna Maria Muller
Oboe
Peter Jaspan
Bassoon
Paul Rodgers
Trumpet
Phil Cox
Trombone
Etienne Macloen
Horns
Frik Le RouxEddie Clayton
Timpani
Rudolph van Dyk
Percussion
Matthew DowneyWian Joubert
Keyboard
Denzil Weale
Web: www.gautengopera.org
Tel: 011 026 8118
OPERA CLASSICS
I AM AN AFRICAN
Aug_2015
29Sep_2015
10
GAUTENG OPERA’S DOUBLE – BILLTHE MANDELA @ JOBURG THEATRE
TIME: 20:00
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Words from a broken string
Composer: Peter Klazow
Librettists: Michael Williams
Director: Marcus Desando
Cast:
Lucy Lloyd Natalie Dickson – Bath
//Kabbo Njabulo Mthimkhulu
Constable Thamsanqa Khaba
A!kunta Kagiso Boroko
Dia!Kwain Phenye Modiane
/han=Kasso Sibusiso Shandu
Tells the story of Lucy Lloyd, the nineteenth century linguist, who with her brother-in-law Wilhelm Bleek recorded the now extinct language of the San Bushmen. The opera relates the relationship that Lucy forms with convicted San men who are brought to her house to tend to the garden by a Constable. The constable is not approving of the bond that Lucy forms with one particular San man by the name of //Kabbo who eventually escape while in the care of Lucy Lloyd.
Tronkvoël is inspired by an event that occurred during the imprisonment of the South African poet, painter, and freedom fighter, Breyten Breytenbach in Pretoria Central. This event is best illustrated by Breytenbach’s own words, in the interview titled “I am not an Afrikaner any more”. This was the first interview he consented to, after regaining his freedom in 1983:
The opera attempts to put on show this sequence of events against the backdrop of struggle for freedom, for the majority of South Africans the apartheid regime. Breytenbach’s prison poetry voices his own circumstances, as well as those of the oppressed in his country. By combining his poetry with the universal language of music (from African, European, and Asian origins alike), this opera is an endeavour to relate to people universally, who endure the misgivings of humanity and the world, as such
Tronkvoel
Composer: Martin Watt
Librettists: Alwyn Roux
Director: Tshepo Ratona
Cast:
Breyten Thamsanqa Khaba
Swartman Sibusiso Shandu
Boerseun Coert Grobbelaar
Hond Kagiso Boroko
Yolande Elizabeth Lombard
Hani
Composer: Bongani Ndodana – Breen
Librettists: Mfundi Mvundla
Director: warona Seane
Cast:
Librettist Njabulo Mthimkhulu
Soothsayer Khumbuzile Dhlamini
Praise Singer Phenye Modiane
The opera uses the slain anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani as an embodiment of all those who lost their lives fighting injustice. The opera is set in the dead of the night in the study of a writer (The Librettist) who, in an extended monologue recalls his personal encounter with Hani while in exile in Los Angeles. The writer enters a dream-like state where he encounters a Soothsayer, an Imbongi (a praise singer) and a chorus of ancestors. Woven in with this metaphor of bravery, sacrifice (Hani), the libretto compares the Masses in our young democracy to the Panther in Rilke’s poem – powerful yet paralyzed.
Synopsises
Gauteng Opera would like to thank you for your continued support and patronage.
Gauteng Opera wish to thank the following sponsors, partners andpartners in kind for their continued support
SPONSORS
PARTNERS
PARTNERS IN KIND
Choreographer Thoko Sidiya
Chorus Master Marcus Desando
Stage manager Yvette Hanekom
Costume Designs Courtesy of Cape Town Opera
Costume Coordinator Christiaan Harris
wardrobe Mistress Masego Bojosi
Assistant Directors Bongani Nomcweya
Pretty Skhosana
Lindokuhle Maso
Surtitle typist Pretty Skhosana
Surtitle operator Bongani Nomcweya
AV design Marcus Desando
AV Operator Bongani Nomcweya
on Stage AV Yvette Hanekom
Production manager Vanessa Nicolau
Rehearsal Pianist Denzil Weale
Stage Crew Innovation and Soweto Theatre
For this Production
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