Words: ClassicSA Media
On Saturday 26 October 2013, lovers of choral music can look forward to a concert of exceptional calibre, presented by the Cape Soloists Choir. This exciting new 18-member vocal group will be joining forces with the dynamic Amici String Quartet from Stellenbosch and esteemed Port Elizabeth-based pianist, Erika Bothma (NMMU) in a performance of enchanting choral music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Knut Nystedt.
The audience will be treated to the beautiful Jesu meine Freude (JS Bach) and Knut Nystedt’s If you receive my Words, Peace I Leave with you, Stabat Mater and many more. The 90-minute programme will pay tribute to J.S. Bach as well as the renowned Norwegian composer, Knut Nystedt, whose faith have been the foundation of their work. Their ingenious composition styles will guide listeners towards a fresh experience of sacred texts.
The Cape Soloists Choir is a specialist choir of soloist voices that launched in June 2013. According to Jaco Dippenaar, founder and conductor, the name of the choir refers to the individual choir members who are all semi-professional or professional singers. ‘Our aim with the Cape Soloists Choir is to take choral singing to exciting new frontiers by performing inspiring and innovative programmes, while at the same time introducing South African audiences to a wealth of choral music not often heard in concerts’, says Dippenaar.
The eighteen members of the Cape Soloists Choir all currently hail from Cape Town and surrounding areas, although membership will not be limited to the Cape region. The singers are professionally trained, all of whom are potential soloists in their respective fields. The choir aims at having twenty-six singers on a rotational basis eventually, which would allow the number of singers to vary according to the repertoire of a particular project. This will give both flexibility and stability and allow the choir to maintain an exacting standard of the highest performance.
