Cape Town Opera Announces 2017 Season

Cape Town Opera's 2017 season launches with an explosive meeting of South Africa's foremost young singers directed by a veteran theatrical innovator. It includes a major new international musical and brings acclaimed interNational Singers to the stage for the third in the Naspers Grand Masters series.

For RIGOLETTO, which will run on 11, 14, 16 and 18 February, visionary director Marthinus Basson will create an unflinching new staging of Giuseppe Verdi's dark melodrama. Metropolitan Opera regular Fikile Mvinjelwa returns to Cape Town to play the hunchbacked jester, with Belvedere Singing Competition finalists Noluvuyiso Mpofu and Lukhanyo Moyake making their role debuts as his daughter, Gilda, and the licentious Duke of Mantua. Under the masterful baton of Maestro Kamal Khan, RIGOLETTO promises to thrill and chill in equal measure.

From 20 - 27 May, Cape Town Opera, in collaboration with the Wales Millennium Centre, will preview and present the world debut of TIGER BAY before it transfers to the UK in late 2017. TIGER BAY is an epic new musical set in the docks of Cardiff at a time when coal was king. Filled with rousing music and a cast of unforgettable characters, TIGER BAY is a universal story of courage, reconciliation and love. With Olivier- and Tony-Award-nominated director Melly Still leading an outstanding international creative team, this short run offers a rare opportunity to be the first to see what promises to be a major new international musical.

DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER will be staged on selected dates from 17 - 26 August. The myth of the cursed sea captain and his ghostly ship comes home to the Cape of Good Hope, in a spectacular new production in the Naspers Grand Masters series. Cape Town Opera's associate music director, Tim Murray, leads the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra through the tempestuous straits of Richard Wagner's elemental score, while Matthew Wild's new production unleashes the ghosts of Dutch colonialism in the modern Mother City. Acclaimed Swedish soprano Elisabet Strid, a memorable Rusalka in Cape Town in 2006, stars as Senta, with South African baritone Jaco Venter returning from Wagnerian triumphs in Germany to make his role debut as the Dutchman.

In November and December, THE MAGIC FLUTE will be performed by a young cast of outstanding singers from Cape Town Opera and the University of Cape Town Opera School to usher in summer with Mozart's most joyful and uplifting masterpiece. With an enchanting blend of visual wizardry and whimsical comedy, Matthew Wild's dream-like staging in Michael Mitchell's poetic designs gives new expression to Mozart's fable about the power of music. Protected by the magic of their enchanted flute, Tamino and Pamina discover that only music can lead them "through death's dark night".

With the venue and date to be announced, GRACE NOTES will feature the Cape Town Opera Chorus. Following its acclaimed premiere in France in 2016, this unique concert of a cappella sacred music, curated by Thuthuka Sibisi, will be heard in Cape Town for the first time. Juxtaposing ancient and modern music from Europe and Africa, GRACE NOTES intersperses sacred compositions by William Byrd, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Maurice Duruflé and Arvo Pärt with religious music drawn from Xhosa, Venda, Zulu and Swahili traditions. A moving reflection on the yearning to express spirituality through music, GRACE NOTES uncovers lines of connection across continents and centuries.

A 2017 season ticket makes an ideal gift for an opera-loving friend or family member.
Season ticket holders enjoy priority booking to all local productions as well as special events, such as pre-opera talks. Season tickets cost R1400, with a R950 concession price for under 30s, and can be purchased directly from Cape Town Opera.

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