By Buhle Makabane
SIZZLING entertainment has been planned for February to celebrate 25 years of excellence from Pro Musica Theatre and Pro Musica Opera Company, both under the umbrella of Pro Musica Productions.
Pro Musica Productions, well known as a place for singers and instrumentalists to launch their professional careers, has long been involved in outreach projects, and it has been investing in talented South Africans since it opened in 1981. Now, the Silver Jubilee Concert, has been organised to celebrate its 25th birthday. There will be two performances, on 17 and 19 February, at the Pro Musica Theatre in Florida Park, in western Joburg.
The main attraction is a performance by Pro Musica Opera Chorus and Pro Musica Orchestra under the baton of conductor and founder Weiss Doubell, with soloists Hanli Stapela and Stéfan Louw, says public relations and marketing co-ordinator Cecile Doubell.
Included on the programme is the Overture to the opera Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber; Un Bel di Vedremo from the opera Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini with soprano Hanli Stapela; E Lucevan le Stelle from the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini with tenor Stéfan Louw; the Intermezzo from Puccini's opera Manon Lescaut; and Alerté from the opera Faust by Charles Gounod.
It is filled out with the Overture to the opera Der Fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner; the quartet Mir ist so Wunderbar from the opera Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven; Waldweben from Wagner's opera Siegfried; and Die Strahlen der Sonne from the opera Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Pro Musica Productions has a number of units – Pro Musica Opera Chorus, Pro Musica Opera Company, Pro Musica Theatre and Pro Musica Orchestra. Doubell has been the director since its formation.
Other units will also join the celebrations, which will also mark their birthdays: Pro Musica Opera Chorus turns 10 and Pro Musica Orchestra turns 22.
Over the last two-and-a-half decades, Pro Musica Opera Company has gained a reputation for consistently giving young South African artists the opportunity to make their professional operatic debuts.
With more than 400 operatic performances and 66 productions completed during the past 25 years, it has proven that opera is not necessarily an expensive and elitist art form, and that it is relevant to all sectors of the community, says a statement from Pro Musica Productions.
To date, 60 South African artists have debuted on the Pro Musica stage, including Angelina Thabane, the first black soprano to make her professional operatic debut in South Africa and now forging a successful career in Britain; Johan Botha, now singing on international stages; Estelle Kruger and Sally du Randt, now in Germany; and Hanli Stapela.
Conductor Doubell graduated from the University of Potchefstroom, studying further in Hamburg and Berlin. He has worked under the world famous Professor Jürgen Jürgens and Dutch conductor Henri Arends d'Aranyi.
The company also has an instrumental tuition scheme, established in 1994 to help develop instrumental performances in disadvantaged communities. Under this scheme, the orchestra's principal musicians teach learners who have no access to other training.
Friday's concert starts at 8pm and Sunday's performance at 3.30pm at the Pro Musica Theatre in the Roodepoort Civic Centre, Christiaan de Wet Road, Florida Park.
For more information Cecile Doubell can be contacted on 011 674 1357. Tickets are available at Computicket from 23 January for R60 and R120, or call Graham on 011 672 2217. Discounts are available for students, pensioners and learners.
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