Dear Friends of Orchestral Music
Time has been certainly been rather surreal this year – with online events taking over our usual social encounters – whether for work or pleasure, and while we have reached level 1 and many activities are returning to some sense of normality, music is still very much in lockdown and cautious of returning to bigger platforms too soon. However – small events are taking place and online concerts prevail. This week the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra are performing chamber music at Erin Hall in a series of symphonic works that have been arranged for chamber ensembles. Sadly the size of the venue meant that only a small audience are able to attend, but these concerts will be streamed throughout November and the details for this are below.
But you can take a break from your screens and still hear the CPO each Thursday, by listening to Fine Music Radio’s Concert Date @8. The Friends of Orchestral Music have sponsored four of these broadcasts- the final one being this Thursday at 8pm. We thank you again, that your continued support for Friends of Orchestral Music has allowed us to support this incredible community radio station – the only one of its kind in the country championing classical music – and by doing so supporting our orchestra who are unable to present symphony concerts at this time. Concert Date @8 on 101.3fmr, (or streaming on www.fmr.co.za or dstv channel 838) features Liszt: Festklange, Grieg’s Piano Concerto with soloist Andre Pisarev and Symphony No. 8 by Dvorak. Conducted by Conrad van Alphen.
Other special online events currently available include the Klein Karoo Klassique which includes a series of four concerts curated by Erik Dippenaar.. All details can be found on Quicket and the concerts run until 31 October. 20/20 Entertainment in Containment also features unique 20 minute productions released every Thursday until the end of November and most Sundays now have live streamed concerts curated by Jessica and Jarryd West from their home in a series called Couch Concerts. All the details for these events can be found at www.quicket.co.za.
FOM very much hopes to be able to host a live concert event towards the end of the year to thank all its members for their continued support. We will send out more details of that as well as our membership renewal plan for 2021 shortly. If you have any comments regarding coming out to a live event at this time, please do write to us – we would value your input.
Kind regards
Louise Howlett
for Friends of Orchestral Music