ON Monday (National Women’s Day) at 14:30 the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra presents a special peace concert in commemoration of the atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on 9 August, 1945 - the last major act of World War II.
The soloist for this historical concert is Hanneli Rupert, the well-known lieder recitalist and one of South Africa’s leading mezzo-sopranos, who was also the soloist for the premičre of Schnittke’s Nagasaki. The choir is the New Apostolic Church Choir.
An estimated 73 000 people died instantly as a result of the bomb, with another 74 000 injured. Several hundred thousand died or suffered serious disease afterwards due to the fallout and radiation sickness.
The oratorio Nagasaki by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke will be performed by the CPO at the Artscape Theatre under the baton of Owain Arwel Hughes, who was also the conductor when the CPO recorded the world premičre of the work (at the first International Summer Music Festival at the end of 2006).
The special concert on 9 August will be broadcast live in Japan by BS Fuji Television making history as the first live broadcast of a South African concert ever.
The time difference between the two countries is the reason why the concert takes place in the afternoon at 14:30.
A South African orchestra was chosen for this peace concert, as South Africa was the first country to voluntarily abandon its nuclear weapons programme some two decades ago.
In addition to the work by Schnittke, the programme for this concert also includes two Japanese songs that were specially arranged for this concert by local composer Alan Stephenson: Hozue Shimoda’s Memory of the Last Summer and Yuji Koseki’s Nagasaki no Kane.
The concert has the potential of strengthening cultural ties between South Africa and Japan.
Book at Computicket or Artscape at Dial-a-Seat at 021-421-7695.
