15.07.2016  The National Youth Orchestra, South Africa’s symphonic green-and-gold national team, is performing in Cape Town on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July.

Their programme includes Mahler’s glorious Fifth Symphony and Benjamin Britten’s seldom-heard Double Concerto for Violin and Viola, written when the composer was just eighteen. The orchestra will be conducted by the sensational Ewa Strusiñska, a finalist and laureate at the prestigious Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition, and principal conductor and music director of the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland.

Soloists for the concerto, drawn from the orchestra’s ranks, are Samantha van Gysen (Durrant), Jonathan Mayer and Jeffrey Armstrong on violin, and Erin Torres, Nicholas Fidler and Kgaugelo Mpyane on viola.

The first concert, on Saturday 16 July at 19:00 at the Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium in Parow, will be presented in association with Fine Music Radio, as part of their drive to sponsor 67 radios for beneficiaries of the Cape Town Society for the Blind. Proceeds will go towards the National Youth Orchestra’s bursary fund, and radios sponsored by Fine Music Radio listeners and Pick n Pay will be handed over on the night. Tickets, available online from Tixsa, range from R100 to R120.

For a more intimate affair, the second concert will be hosted in the majestic ballroom of the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel on Sunday 17 July at 15:00. Tickets at R450 are available online from Tixsa. The ticket price includes canapés and drinks (and of course parking!). The Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel will give details on 021 483 1000 of their special rate for overnight stays on the concert weekend. Every ticket contributes to the musical education of our orchestra members.

The National Youth Orchestra nurtures the musical development of South Africa’s finest young musicians, from emerging gifted school-age students to those on the verge of a professional career. The orchestra’s alumni have been placed in some of the best orchestras in the world, and they make up over 70% of the South Africans placed in our local professional orchestras. In existence for over fifty years, the National Youth Orchestra is one of South Africa’s most successful music institutions.

The Orchestra is generously supported by the National Lotteries Commission and the Department of Arts and Culture. Proceeds from the concerts will go towards the National Youth Orchestra’s work with South Africa’s most talented young musicians.

For more information please visit http://www.sanyo.org.za or call 083 272 2117.