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DTSTAMP:20260828T161822Z
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260911
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260918
DESCRIPTION:Sep 11-18\, 2026\nCape Town Opera\, which claims a place—no d
 oubt richly deserved—among South Africa’s leading performing-arts inst
 itutions\, has announced a potentially historic whirlwind tour of Europe. 
 Back in the day when Russian or English or Finnish companies undertook suc
 h campaigns\, they would typically foreground home-grown titles: Khovanshc
 hina\, The Last Temptations\, Gloriana. But no\, we’re talking a concert
  staging of George Gershwin’s global hit Porgy and Bess\, uniquely situa
 ted in a No Man’s Land between grand opera\, folk opera\, and Broadway-s
 tyle American musical. And something about the package feels ever-so-sligh
 tly more Catholic than the pope. The cast\, surprise!\, is all-Black\, jus
 t as Gershwin wanted it to be. In point of fact\, the stricture excludes a
  cartoonish handful of Jim Crow speaking parts. More importantly\, it appl
 ied only to staged productions in the United States. No one objected when 
 the legendary (white) American baritone Lawrence Tibbett recorded Porgy’
 s greatest numbers\, and there were those who regarded him (and still do) 
 as the greatest Porgy of them all. But why on earth wouldn’t an African 
 company cast Africans as Gershwin’s African-Americans? Regarding the orc
 hestra\, Gershwin made no such demands. Going him one better\, the Cape To
 wn company’s instrumentalists for the tour are London’s crackerjack Ch
 ineke! Orchestra\, which is Europe’s first-ever (and perhaps still only)
  Black and ethnically diverse professional symphonic ensemble. But apparen
 tly\, no satisfactory Black conductor could be found\, which left the podi
 um free for Enrique Mazzola\, who trained in Milan\, But honestly\, isn’
 t all the identity-political bean-counting beside the point? In recent dec
 ades\, South Africa has sent the world a remarkable multiracial cohort of 
 opera stars specializing in everything from bel canto to Wagner\, among th
 em Johan Botha\, Elza van den Heever\, Pretty Yende\, Vuvu Mpofu\, and Siy
 abongo Maqungo. Here’s hoping the Cape Town Porgy and Bess proves a spri
 ngboard for new voices of international calibre. At home\, these gigs at t
 he Cité de la Musique in Paris\, the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre\
 , the Berlin Musikfest\, DE SINGEL in Antwerp\, and the Konzerthaus Dortmu
 nd are sure to generate lots of box-office heat for Cape Town Opera’s co
 ming productions of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Oliver! The Musical.
  What might they take on the road next time?
LOCATION:Touring
SUMMARY:Porgy and Bess\, by George Gershwin
URL;VALUE=TEXT:https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/porgy-and-bess-by-geo
 rge-gershwin-1
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