King Arthur

Workshops February and March 2011

Festival phase 21 February - 6 March

Perfomances 5 and 6 March 2011

Love, war, climate change and revenge - "King Arthur" is a story of vast range.

The Cape Festival took Henry Purcell's "Semi-Opera" as the basis for an exciting project of workshops, concerts, and cultural encounters. Building on the success of its 2010 Noye's Fludde project, the Cape Festival drew a cast of South African children and adults together with their internationals counterparts in a series of memorable musical encounters.

Inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema, the King Arthur Project was the next step in a long-term project with social and music pedagogical goals. Dutch conductor Gerben Grooten, South African conductor Michael Dingaan, German stage director Robert Lehmeier, and special guests Mlamli Lalapantsi and Angela Kerrison joined with soloists Itumeleng Pooe, Nombusa Ndlandla and Charles Ainslie, the choirs of Kenmere and Hlengisi primary schools, the Kensington Girl's Chorale, the choir of Bloekombos Secondary School, and the Cape Festival Ensemble to approach Purcell's music drama from a number of new perspective. Within the framework of rehearsals and performance, the Cape Festival, in partnership with the music education department of Berlin's Universitat der Kunste, hosted workshops with school students, participants, and community organizations around the opera and its themes using the methodology of leading German music pedagogue R.O. Brinkmann.