Nelson Mandela and the Union Buildings, Pretoria July 19 2019
My trip to Cape Town was a huge success with no less than 4 singers being selected for the final rounds in Germany in October. We were already short of men so I was particularly pleased to choose two baritones and a tenor, as well as a very thrilling soprano. All we have left now is for my colleague Evamaria Wieser to go to Asia to find the last few to make up the total of 44 finalists.
Cape Town University opera school is in very good shape with their new director Jeremy Silver following hugely successfully in the footsteps of Kamal Khan who himself took the school to new heights. The last five years have been amazing for the development of South African singers, and I am very proud that Neue Stimmen has been able to make a valuable contribution to that. And I think that we have another good vintage in 2019!
I was very happy then to proceed to Pretoria where I had last been back in 1999. We did not add any further singers to the list for the finals, but I heard a dozen or so singers including a prodigiously endowed 25 year old Ghanaian bass who had made the trip from his home country. He is not ready yet but if he can develop over the next four years in a good school (perhaps even in the University of Cape Town) he could very well be a serious contender in 2023.
Before leaving for London on Saturday I went to the Pretoria Zoo - no time for a safari! It was a glorious sunny day in South Africa's capital city, nice and fresh at 4,000 feet up in the Highveld. A two hour walk around with the animals free to roam in most cases. It was pretty well deserted even though it was a Saturday - and a good two mile walk was easy with my wonderful new knee behaving perfectly!
Back in London I had a couple of days to recover before the joy of the Monteverdi Vespers at Garsington on Wednesday - a glorious evening and we were all in Garden Party casual rather than black tie. What a difference that makes! This 8:30 pm performance was an inspired idea to round off a tremendous Garsington 2019 season. Thank you the Bevan sisters, Ben Hulett, Rob Murray and James Way, the English Concert and the English Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble, and of course the Garsington Opera Chorus, all welded together for magical music making by Laurence Cummings. A happy day indeed.
I am looking forward to a quieter few weeks but there is good stuff coming up nevertheless - watch this space!
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