Vuurvoël/Firebird will be presented on Wednesday 14 September at 20:00 in Hiddingh Hall as part of the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA) Music in the City concert series.
Nominated for a Kanna Award, in the category Best Debut Production, at the 2011 Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees, the production of Vuurvoël /Firebird was inspired by the well-known fable of the rising Phoenix. Over the years composers drew inspiration from these fabulous feathered creatures, recreating their magical melodies and fantastical worlds through new composition techniques and sound-textures. These works are raised from the ashes and given new, colourful life by three diverse and highly acclaimed musicians – Soprano Magdalene Minnaar, flautist Liesl Stoltz, and Mario Nell on piano. The set, plumed costumes with masks, and decadent lighting contributes to a sensory experience, with the audience becoming part of the set, and also the action.
Magdalene is an artist with a diverse voice. Her speciality lies in character roles, coloratura work and contemporary classical music. After her years with Cape Town – and New York Opera Studios, she has embarked on a solo career, as well as starting “Biblioteek Productions”.
Liesl is one of South Africa’s most prominent flautists. Born and bred in Cape Town, she received most of her training in Paris and Italy, where she was taught by world renowned masters such as Shigenori Kudo, Pierre Ives Artaud and Peter Lukas Graf, but continues a freelance career in South Africa.
Mario Nell is an organ, piano and harpsichord lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch. He studied at the universities of Port Elizabeth, Stellenbosch and Cape Town, where he received his MMus degree in 1998. He subsequently studied under Zsigmond Szathmary at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany.
The program includes ‘bird-inspired’ works for flute, soprano and piano by Mouquet, Delibes, Saint-Saens, Messiaen, Roussel, Handel and Alabief-Liebling. The event is free and no booking is necessary.
