09 / Aria! Opera for Everyone: with the soprano Jo-Nette LeKay and the Aria! Opera Chorus.

Sunday, 10 August
Stéfan Louw Productions in association with the Roodepoort Theatre

It is the fourth consecutive year that this production can be seen on stage at the Roodepoort Theatre and it has grown in popularity to such an extent that the first two concerts were sold out and the third had a few single seats left unoccupied in the auditorium.

Louw, who is considered one of the country’s best opera tenors, is excited about the prospect of a Sunday afternoon concert.  “In doing audience research many of the patrons indicated the desire for a Sunday matinee and when I booked the Roodepoort Theatre for the 2014 season last year I decided to add a Sunday to grant my patrons’ wishes.”

For this concert Louw will once again produce groups of arias from operas: Madama Butterfly, Il Trovatore, Lucia di Lammermoor and I Pagliacci.  He will be joined on stage by soprano Jo-Nette LeKay and the Aria! Opera Chorus, accompanied on piano by Eugene Joubert.

The Aria! Opera Chorus was established earlier this year and consist of good solo voices, many still very young; the perfect place for youngsters to start building a career.  Because he is so proud of the beautiful voices in the chorus two of the members will also sing solos in this concert: Muzi Mazibuko will sing the Beppe aria from I Pagliacci and Chris Monotoe will sing Arturo in the chorus of the wedding guests from Lucia di Lammermoor.

Tickets for Aria! Opera for Everyone are available at R120 per person.  To reserve your seats call the Joburg City Theatres’ central reservations at 0861 670 670 or book online at www.roodepoorttheatre.com. 

Patrons can now also enjoy a delicious meal at the new Stages Restaurant at the Roodepoort Theatre before the show.  To make your reservation call 011 674 1356 or contact Lucky (general manager) on 082 221 1757.

About the artists

Stéfan Louw is a professional tenor who earns his living by singing opera in South Africa and abroad.  He made his debut at the Pretoria State Theatre in 1999, when he was only 25, and received the prestigious FNB Vita Opera Award for Best Newcomer in Opera for that production.  With more than 30 full opera productions behind his name, Louw is a well-known face on opera stages and also a regular contributor to Citizen’s Citivibe with his column, OperaSmalls.

Web: www.stefanlouw.co.za
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Jo-Nette LeKay (soprano) studied singing at the University of Stellenbosch and obtained a ‘Licentiate in Musical Performance’ and attended Theatre Art classes at the College of Music at UCT, where she studied and performed operatic roles like Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Adina from Don Pasquale (Donizetti), Gilda from Rigoletto (Verdi).

Eugene Joubert (pianist) was born in Pietermaritzburg and holds a Masters Degree in Performing Arts (cum laude) from the University of Pretoria.  In 2007 he made his debut in America at the Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts (Washington D.C.) during the Conservatory Project.  Joubert holds a number of accolades, his most recent being that of the Lillian H. Duncan prize for piano of the Rice University (Houston, U.S.A).  He is a repetiteur at the Opera School of the Tshwane University of Technology.
The Aria! Opera Chorus was established by Louw in April 2014 following the sounding success he had in training another chorus for his production of La Traviata.  The Aria! Opera Chorus is made up by veteran as well as young opera singers, each a soloist in their own right working together towards a common goal – to sing opera in its purest form as the composer intended.

Sopranos:
Agnes Smit, Heather Kruger, Leana Leuvennink, Leona Marée, Marisa Louw, Nonhlanhla Ndlovu, Yael Benjamin

Mezzo-sopranos:
Mfihlakalo Malinga, Neliseka Malinga, Thobeka Malinga

Tenors:
Chris Monotoe, Muzi Mazibuko, Sabelo Zwane, Sanele Radebe, Tebogo Mkula, Vaughan Rautenbach, Vincent Smith, Xolani Mogomotsi

Baritone:
Johan van den Heever

Basses:
Gawie de Wet, Willem de Bruïne