Music News South Africa

Young artists invited to enter for music festival

The 41st Western Cape Youth Classical Music Festival, hosted by Artscape and the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) will be held in the Artscape Theatre, Cape Town on Saturday, 18 August 2012. This annual event offers young singers and solo instrumentalists the opportunity of performing with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. Auditions will be held on Wednesday, 9 May at the Fismer Hall in Stellenbosch and Thursday, 10 May at Artscape.

These auditions are exclusive to musicians who are resident or studying in the Western Cape. The age restriction is from ten to 23 years for instrumentalists and up to the age of 27 years for singers. A very high standard of performance is essential and the work should be a maximum duration of 15 minutes. Instrumentalists are required to perform a single movement of a concerto or concertante. Two-piano works are unfortunately not acceptable. Singers are required to perform a work for solo voice and orchestra, or an appropriate part thereof.

A celebration of young talent

Candidates are encouraged to choose works from the standard repertoire and must arrange for their own accompanists at auditions and be available for all rehearsals at Artscape from Wednesday, 15 August.

The emphasis of the festival is a celebration of young musical talent and not a competition; therefore the appeal of the works presented as well as good variety in the overall programme content, plays an important part in the final selection of the soloist.

To assist with more details, application forms and early preparation contact Debbie Damons on (021) 410 9915 or email az.oc.epacstra@deibbed. Forms are to be submitted by Friday, 13 April 2012.

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