Zimbabwe Academy of Music

~  PERFORMING ARTS BULAWAYO  ~

THE EIGHTH BULAWAYO MUSIC FESTIVAL

As I think (hope!) you already know, the Eighth Bulawayo Music Festival runs from Wednesday 23 to Sunday 27 May.   A preliminary programme is attached – there may be minor changes but this is pretty much what will be on offer.

Booking will open on Tuesday 10 April and season tickets will cost $75.00.   As you’ll see from the programme, there is a pre-festival dinner on the Tuesday evening, 22 May at the Bulawayo Club.   This will be a substantial finger supper and courses will be interspersed with music from several of our musicians.   Those not taking part will be there as guests and we plan a thoroughly convivial evening which will end with a sing-along led by Leslie Howard who has a repertoire of over eight hundred songs and will be happy to take requests!   Numbers will be limited for this event and we hope that you will join us for it as well – tickets will be $25.00 including wine so the total package is a very convenient $100.00!

The Festival itself will perhaps be the most ambitious yet.    No fewer than twenty-one musicians will be joining us from beyond our borders and there will be two large-scale concerts featuring hundreds of performers from right across Bulawayo plus contingents from Harare.

The musicians include (in order strictly alphabetical!) the Amici String Quartet, Juliette Bausor (flute), Sharon de Kock (violin), Coady Green (piano), Leigh Harrold (piano), Leslie Howard (piano), the Junior Odeion String Quartet, Mary King (mezzo-soprano/conductor), Njabulo Madlala (baritone), Piet Moolman (conductor), Alenka Ponjavic (soprano), Richard Sisson (piano, composer, conductor, etc!), Christopher Smith (piano), Morgan Szymanski (guitar) and  Petroc Trelawny (narrator, interviewer).

The provisional programme is attached and you can see that there is a great wealth of music on offer.   As well as the dozen or so classical concerts there will be plenty of other music to enjoy including pop and gospel concerts, Indian music and dancing and an Africa Day Celebration.   Three of the major highlights will be:

• a  performance of Carmina Burana with soloists, a choir of 150  plus children’s chorus, two pianos and seven or eight  percussionists – early rehearsals suggest that this will be an event not  easily forgotten!
• the first performance of a major commission from Richard Sisson,  The Song of the Carnivores, involving children from ten schools in both eastern and western suburbs as well as a host of  instrumentalists and many of the professional musicians.  Choirs are already working on the music all over the city and another memorable evening  is guaranteed.
• the final concert with an orchestra of twenty in a programme of thee concertos plus The Carnival of the Animals.

There will also be a concerts devoted to music by Schubert, another to Mendelssohn, a celebration of Debussy (born 50 years ago this year), piano quintets by Dohnanyi, Fibich, Schumann and Shostakovich  - and much more.  One rather different event will be silent films with live accompaniment – including Laurel and Hardy’s Big Business with Leslie Howard as pianist!

All in all, a festival where you can’t afford to miss anything at all so make sure of your seat by buying a season ticket on 10 April!

Best wishes as always,

Michael Bullivant