Christmas with Carpe Musicam!

Gallery

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Over the next two weekends, Carpe Musicam! Orchestra - a local community-based orchestra that boasts a high percentage of young players under the age of 25 - will be treating audiences to its Christmas with Carpe Musicam! programmes.

The recently reconstituted choir will be the main attraction at these four performances, with the Carpe Musicam! Boutique Band and Youth Ensemble providing accompaniment and musical thrills in Carpe Musicam!'s relaxed and slightly off-beat style.

The Boutique Band is an octet of Carpe Musicam!'s top musicians, and the Youth Ensemble consists of nine young musicians involved in Carpe Musicam!'s music skills development programme.

Pieter Winterbach, a member of the Youth Ensemble and the orchestra, plays the euphonium.

The performances will take place as follows:

Friday 10 December (19:00) Dutch Reformed Church Blanco;
Sunday 12 December (15:30) George Methodist Church;
Friday 17 December (19:00) Dutch Reformed Church George South;
Sunday 19 December (15:30) Dutch Reformed Church Sedgefield.

Photo gallery: Christmas with Carpe Musicam!

Tickets cost R120 and are available online at www.carpemusicam.co.za or at the door. For more information, send an e-mail to elsabe@carpemusicam.co.za.

Solo violinist Helene van Zyl in action.

Highlights

Concertgoers were enthralled with the orchestra's most recent concert performance on Sunday 5 December entitled Highlights 2021, a collection of the orchestra's best items of the year.

From the delicacy of Elsabe Barkhuizen's piano solo in Francis Lai's Concerto for a Love's Ending, to the rhythms and harmonies of Abba's hits and the Celtic-inspired pyrotechnics from How to Train Your Dragon, the 45-plus players rose to every musical challenge, proving over and over that enthusiastic amateurs are not to be trifled with.

Especially notable was Helene van Zyl's solo violin performance of Carlos Gardel's Por una Cabeza.

This work was an arrangement by John Williams for Itzhak Perlman, and Van Zyl finessed her way through the virtuosic work with passion as well as tenderness.

Inge Schröter on trumpet. Schröter is a member of the Youth Ensemble and Carpe Musicam! Orchestra.