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Debra Boraston & Associates Preview News Release: March 2012
WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE PRESENTS: CAPE TOWN OPERA
• EUROPEAN PREMIERE OF THE MANDELA TRILOGY – TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY AT WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE
• RETURN OF THE COMPANY’S HIGHLY ACCLAIMED PORGY AND BESS Following its triumphant, sell-out debut performances in 2009, Cape Town Opera returns to British shores with a seven-week tour of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Only at Wales Millennium Centre will the company also stage the full production of Mandela Trilogy for just two performances, marking its European premiere. Mandela Trilogy 20 & 21 June Written and directed by Michael Williams with music by Allan Stephenson, Mike Campbell and Peter Louis van Dijk, it is an award-winning musical tribute to the legendary Nelson Mandela and dramatises key periods of his extraordinary life in different musical styles. Traditional Xhosa songs and jazz melodies are woven into a classical framework that follows Mandela from a young man in the Transkei, to revolutionary in the townships at the onset of apartheid, to Robben Island prisoner and the final walk to freedom. The company brings the celebrated Voice of the Nation Chorus and an entirely South African cast to the UK for Mandela Trilogy in a revised version of the production premiered in South Africa in 2010.
The performances of Mandela Trilogy are produced in association with the Wales Millennium Centre and are supported by Donald Gordon. Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess 23- 24 June Relocated to the depression-ravaged townships of Soweto, Cape Town Opera has made this production of Porgy and Bess its very own, as the search for hope and happiness - amidst povertyand hardship - unfolds in a poignant tale of love and deprivation. Porgy and Bess is one of the great icons of American music theatre, known around the world as ‘the peoples’ opera’. Written in 1935 and originally portraying the 1920s life of America’s Deep South, this compelling work contains some of the most stirring and ever-lasting songs including Summertime, I got plenty of nuttin’, It ain’t necessarily so, and I loves you Porgy. Cape Town Opera’s collaborative and exchange projects with Wales Millennium Centre are part of a growing legacy of South African businessman and philanthropist, Donald Gordon, after whom the main auditorium is named. As well as the opera company visits to Cardiff, Cape Town Opera’s Voice of the Nation Chorus also has a lifelong relationship with the Centre, having appeared at its grand opening in 2004 and its fifth birthday season. There will be a workshop and educational programme built around the June 2012 performances (more details to follow soon).
For further information: PR Consultant for Cape Town Opera at Wales Millennium Centre
Debra Boraston T. 020 7483 1950 / 07989 434388 [email protected]
Or Wales Millennium Centre Press office:
Nia Jones PR Manager (interim) on 02920 636403 / [email protected] or Joanna Marriott, Press Office Assistant on 02920 63 6428 / [email protected]
www.wmc.org.uk
WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE BOX OFFICE AND PERFORMANCE DETAILS www.wmc.org.uk Box Office 029 2063 6464
Notes to Editors CTO’s tour of Porgy and Bess begins at the Birmingham Hippodrome (6-9 June) and continues to Edinburgh Festival Theatre (15-16 June), Wales Millennium Centre (23-24 June), Canterbury Marlow Theatre (27-30 June), Southampton Mayflower (4-7 July), London Coliseum (11-21 July). Mandela Trilogy is performed at the Wales Millennium Centre only (20-21 June) Mandela Trilogy recently won the top award, The Best Production of a Musical, as well as Best Theatre Set Design (Michael Mitchell) and Best Theatre Lighting Design (Faheem Bardien) at South Africa’s prestigious Naledi Theatre Awards in March 2012. http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=29422 Contd…
Cape Town Opera Cape Town Opera (CTO) is the largest performing arts company in South Africa. Since its establishment in 1999, the company has been committed to the continued performance and development of opera, operetta and musical theatre in South Africa. CTO focuses on performance excellence, audience development and innovation, with the overall goal of increasing the relevance of opera as a performing art form in South Africa. In order to realise this goal, the company’s main objectives are maintaining a full and varied artistic programme of world-class standard, undertaking the training and development of young South African artists and opera practitioners and increasing access to, and appreciation of, opera among the general public in South Africa. Through its Outreach and Education Programmes, Cape Town Opera is committed to bringing performances to a wide range of South Africans in and beyond the Cape Town area, instilling an appreciation for opera and reaching new audiences. Abridged opera performances are taken to schools locally and across the country, using musical theatre as a tool for social and historical education. Educators are invited to bring learners to final dress rehearsals free of charge, increasing access to CTO performances. Cape Town Opera is the permanent home of three staff soloists and 23 professional members of the Voice of the Nation Ensemble, the core of the CTO Chorus, conducted by Albert Horne. In addition, the Voice of the Nation Studio consists of seven young soloists on the brink of professional careers, refining their artistic skills on stage throughout the year. Every year CTO provides precious employment opportunities to hundreds of singers, dancers, conductors, directors, designers, choreographers, orchestral musicians and production technicians.
