Shirt of Fire / Hemp van Vlam, written by playwright Pieter Cilliers, is a one-woman opera, which explores the poetry and art of celebrated South African poet, Sheila Cussons. Twelve poems were selected from Cussons’s lifelong oeuvre to tell the storyline and dialogue while celebrated international composer, Professor Hendrik Hofmeyr, currently Head of Composition and [...]

Resident musical director, Corvin Matei conducts the University of Stellenbosch Symphony Orchestra (USSO) in a programme that includes acclaimed virtuosic flautist, Raffaele Trevisani. Trevisani studied with Sir James Galway who regards him as "...one of the best flautists of the day for his beautiful singing tone, perfect technique and dedication to the art of music..". [...]

The ever popular Two Blondes – Elna van der Merwe and Zorada Temmingh will be giving one of their equally popular two-piano recitals, with well-known classical tunes from piano and orchestral repertoires, such as Brahms, Bizet (Carmen) and Bernstein (West Side Story). From the field of hitparades are items such as those by The Beach [...]

The production titled Kaap, Mzansi and Beyond has a strong and true Cape emphasis, whilst visiting the rest of our country and elsewhere. Several commissioned arrangements will be performed for the first time, among which a medley District 6: The Musical by Camillo Lombard, I Hear Music from Pacific Express, by Ramon Alexander, the contemporary [...]

Respected local musicians and members of staff at Stellenbosch University, pianist Pieter Grobler, violinist Suzanne Martens and cellist Peter Martens, will perform piano trios by Debussy, Schumann and Shostakovich. The trio has come together especially for Woordfees 2017 to perform some of the world’s most sublime chamber music. Shostakovich’s first trio dates from 1923. The [...]

Pioniers is a performance of song, a celebration of the Afrikaans language and poetry, through compositions by pioneers who attempted to establish an Afrikaans tradition of art song. Audiences will meet the work of three generations of these pioneers – S le Roux Marais, Arnold van Wyk and Hendrik Hofmeyr – and accompanied on a [...]

Hendrik Hofmeyr is one of South Africa’s most celebrated composers. Musicians including Jolene McCleland – mezzo-soprano, the Odeion String Quartet, Anmari van der Westhuizen - cello, Suzanne Martens - violin and Elna van der Merwe – piano perform in a concert of his chamber music in an all Hofmeyr affair in celebration of his 60th [...]

In spite of a local revival of sacred choral music in the past decades, an Afrikaans setting of Christ’s passion and crucifixion is still extant. Winfried Lüdemann’s setting with the title Die Kruisiging (The Crucifixion) is an attempt to address this void. The work is based on the gospel of St. John, and is a [...]

Italian flutist Raffaele Trevisani is one of very few pupils of Sir James Galway. In a solo recital, the beauty of the sound of Trevisani’s golden flute, accompanied by the intelligent musical sensitivity of pianist Paola Girardi guide the audience through a fascinating itinerary of repertoire dedicated to the flute. The programme includes Corelli’s Variations [...]

The Woordfees in collaboration with the Endler Concert Series is honoured to present the emotionally charged work, Moments in a Life, by young South African composer, Matthijs van Dijk, featuring struggle icon Denis Goldberg reading from his autobiography. Born in 1933, Goldberg grew up in a home committed to opposition to apartheid. He was involved [...]