L. VAN BEETHOVEN FIDELIO IN CONCERT at Artscape theatre

MARCH
27 19:30
29 15:00
R100, R160, R200, R280

Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethovens sole opera, speaks passionately about the composers deeply held beliefs about freedom and liberty views that would be further underscored in the composers Ninth Symphony, with its choral finale set to Friedrich Schillers Ode to Joy. Fidelio tells the story of a young woman, Leonora/Fidelio, who goes undercover as a young male prison warden where her husband, Florestan, is unjustly being kept prisoner. Fidelios plan is to find a way to somehow free her husband. The opera is based (admittedly loosely) on a true story known to Beethovens librettist. With its stirring choruses and soaring vocal ensemble music, Fidelio is a perfect opera for a performance in concert. This production is being performed in honour of the 250th anniversary of Beethovens birth, as well as in commemoration of South Africas Human Rights Day. Fidelio and its message of freedom was first performed in 2004 to mark the 10th anniversary of a democratic South Africa by Cape Town Opera in the actual exercise yard of the Robben Island prison. Johanni van Oostrum will sing her first Leonore, Mandisinde Mbuyazwe appears as prison governor Don Pizzaro, and Brittany Smith sings the role of Marzelline. Amy Jephta has written new narrations especially for this production, and Maestro Jeremy Silver will conduct the Cape Town Philharmonic in this vast work.