Cape Town Philharmonia Choir

The Cape Town Philharmonia Choir is a South African choir based in Cape Town, South Africa. The choir currently consists of 150 amateur singers, directed by Richard Haigh.

History and repertoire

The choir was founded in February 1967 by the late John Badminton, and is based in Cape Town. The choir incorporated a nucleus of experienced singers from its predecessor, the Melodic Choir, which had been directed by Dr Claude Brown. Since 1968, the choir has performed Handel's Messiah every year at Easter and this has become an integral Cape Town tradition. The choir's repertoire includes over 50 choral works - which includes both the serious and the popular.^{[citation needed]}

The choir has also performed engagements with world-class singers and musicians such as

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in which choirs in different continents were linked by satellite television transmission to the conductor, Seiji Ozawa, in Japan. For several years the choir collaborated with Reinhard Schwarz who often visited Cape Town as a guest conductor. Under his baton, the choir was invited to participate in the Schubert Bicentenary Festival in Vienna in May 1997, as well as performing in Munich. On his last tour to Cape Town before his death, Schwarz chose to conduct the choir in a performance of Dvořák's Requiem.^{[citation needed}

]

In 2001, the choir toured to England where they performed in several cathedrals and churches, and were scheduled to perform Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Worcester Cathedral on 2 June, the anniversary of the composer's birth.^[1]

The Philharmonia Choir has been conducted by many well-known international conductors, including

Haydn’s The Creation in the original German.^{[citation needed}

]

Directors of Music

The directors have included Christine Reynolds, Raymond Hughes, Vetta Wise, Margaret Barlow and Antoinette Blyth, a former student of Norwegian maestro Kåre Hanken. In January 2013, Richard Haigh, an accomplished choral conductor and music educator, was appointed as the seventh Director of Music of this choir.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "African choir in tribute to Elgar". Worcester News. 2001-05-25. Retrieved 2024-02-22. The Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town will join the Elgar Chorale of Worcester for a performance of The Dream of Gerontius on the composer's birthday - Saturday, June 2 - at Worcester Cathedral.

External links

The Philharmonia Choir
Cape Town Philharmonia Choir on
Facebook

[1] "African choir in tribute to Elgar". Worcester News. 2001-05-25. Retrieved 2024-02-22. The Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town will join the Elgar Chorale of Worcester for a performance of The Dream of Gerontius on the composer's birthday - Saturday, June 2 - at Worcester Cathedral.

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