Cape Town Opera hits a high note

Craig Cockcroft from Jack Russel Design took up the visual challenge and has caught images of a broad-range of ordinary South Africans 'singing their hearts out' - a police officer singing on duty, a student belting out a solo on her way to university, a domestic worker crooning over the soap suds.

Marketing Manager for Cape Town Opera, Lesley Liddle, says the concept has certainly got people talking: "Like opera itself, the campaign celebrates diversity and our great passion as a nation for choral music. Everybody featured in our campaign has their own story - just like opera, which has a rich treasure chest of fabulous tales, all still relevant to modern South Africans audiences."

The CTO will be performing seven major productions in South Africa this season and have also been invited on four international tours, including a return trip to Nurenberg to perform their highly acclaimed production of "Show Boat".

They are currently rehearsing Rusalka, which opens at the Baxter Theatre on Saturday, 25 February. The production, based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale of "The Little Mermaid", is a joint venture between the CTO and Sweden's NorrlandsOperan.

Other activities for 2006 include the Vocal Ensemble's tour to Sweden; the annual Waterfront Sing-a-thon; the Opera Studio tours to towns around the Cape and the CTO's "Edutainment" programme, which takes musical education and performance opportunities to over 30 000 students each year.

Media publicist Chantal Rutter Communications and Sarah Nicklin from Wildfire Communications will help manage the CTO's busiest and most exciting year since the company's inception in 1998.