SOUTH AFRICAN OPERA ENSEMBLE
Loveline Madumo, soprano
Thabang Senekal, baritone
Eugene Joubert, piano
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OPERA
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GIANNI SCHICCHI - Giacomo Puccini
O mio babbino caro
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LA TRAVIATA - Giuseppe Verdi
Di Provenza il mar, il suol
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LA WALLY - Alfredo Catalani
Ebben? Ne andrò lontana
__________
Piano Solo
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE – Richard Wagner, arranged by Franz Liszt
Isoldes liebestod
__________

PAGLIACCI - Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Si può?... Si può?... Signore! Signori! ... Un nido di memorie

DON GIOVANNI - Wolfgang A. Mozart
Là ci darem la mano
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TOSCA - Giacomo Puccini
Vissi d’arte
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PORGY & BESS - George & Ira Gershwin
Summertime
I got plenty of nuttin’
Bess, you is my woman now
INTERVAL
OPERETTA & MUSICALS

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - Andrew Lloyd Webber
All I ask of you
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SOUTH PACIFIC – Rodgers & Hammerstein II
Some enchanted evening
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DIE LUSTIGE WITWE – Franz Lehàr
Lippen schweigen
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Ciribiribin - Alberto Pestalozza
__________
Piano Solo
SONATA FOR CELLO AND PIANO, OP 19 – Sergei Rachmaninov, arranged by Arcadi Volodos
Andante
__________
SPIRITUALS & GOSPEL (a selection)

Deep River

He’s got the whole world in his hands

Amazing Grace

Siyabonga Amen

I’ll walk with God
AFRICAN SONGS (a selection)

Thula Thula

Meadowlands

Music in the Air

Pata pata

Heimwee

Nda mthanda ndisa a al nkumbona
Giacomo Puccini’s comic opera Gianni Schicchi is famous for its soprano aria, O mio
babbino caro. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between her father Schicchi and the
family of Rinuccio, the boy she loves, have reached a breaking point that threatens to
separate her from Rinuccio.
Di Provenza il mar, il suol is a beautiful baritone aria from Guiseppe Verdi’s opera La
Traviata. After convincing Violetta to leave Alfredo because of her reputation as a
courtesan, Germont sings this aria to comfort and console his son.
Ebben? Ne andrò lontana is the well-known soprano aria from Alfredo Catalani’s opera La
Wally. Originally composed as Chanson Groënlandaise, it was later incorporated into the
opera. It is sung by Wally when she is forced to leave her father’s house because she is in
love with his enemy.
Isoldes liebestod is the title of the final music from Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und
Isolde, during which Isolde sings over Tristan’s body. Meaning ‘love-death’, it refers to the
two lovers’ consummation of their love in death. A famous literary example of this is found
in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Wagner’s father-in-law, Franz Liszt, made his famous
transcription two years after the opera’s first performance and it was famous all over
Europe well before the opera reached most opera houses.
Ruggero Leoncavallo’s verismo opera, Pagliacci, opens with a prologue in which the
baritone, Tonio, dressed as his commedia character Taddeo addresses the audience. In the
aria Si può?... Si può?... Signore! Signori!... Un nido di memorie he reminds the audience
that actors have feelings too, and that the show is about real people.
Wolfgang A. Mozart’s duet Là ci darem la mano from his opera, Don Giovanni, is one of the
most often-performed duets for soprano and baritone. Don Giovanni attempts to seduce
Zerlina to accompany him to his castle, having distracted her betrothed by offering to
arranging a wedding celebration for them.
Giacomo Puccini’s melodramatic opera, Tosca, is famous for some of the composer’s bestknown lyrical arias, including the soprano aria Vissi d’arte. Floria Tosca, a celebrated
singer, thinks of her fate and how the life of her beloved, Mario Cavaradossi, is at the mercy
of Baron Scarpia.
George Gershwin described Porgy and Bess as a folk opera, having written spirituals and
folksongs for the score. It deals with Porgy, a beggar, attempting to rescue Bess from her
lover, Crown, and the drug dealer, Sportin’ Life. The lullaby, Summertime, is sung by the
young mother, Clara, to her baby. Knowing of their desperate need for money, Porgy sings I
got plenty o’ nuttin, describing his new happy-go-lucky outlook on life. After refusing
Sportin’ Life’s advances, Porgy and Bess expresses their love for each other in Bess, you is
my woman now.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the opera revolves around the soprano, Christine, who
becomes the obsession of a disfigured musical genius. The new patron of the Opera, Raoul,
is also in love with her, and having heard of her rendezvous with the Phantom, sing the
famous duet, All I ask of you, together. He swears to love and protect her always.
Some enchanted evening is a baritone aria from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical
South Pacific, and was an immediate hit. It is sung by Emile de Becque, a French expatriate
on a South Pacific island during World War II. He falls in love with Nellie Forbush at an
officer’s club dance, and were instantly attracted to each other.
Franz Léhar’s operetta, Die lustige Witwe, revolves around a rich widow, and her
countrymen’s attempts to keep her riches in the principality by finding her a suitable
husband. Lippen schweigen is a duet in waltz-form between Hanna and Danilo.
Alberto Pestalozza’s Italian ballad, Ciribiribin, is distinguished by the repeated use of the
five-note phrase that forms the song name. This song has been recorded by many artists,
including Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza, and Bing Crosby.
Following a poor performance of his first symphony in 1897, Sergei Rachmaninov fell into a
severe depression. He was treated by the therapist Nikolai Dahl in 1900 and started
composing again with a series of very successful works, including the second piano
concerto and the sonata for cello and piano. Arcadi Volodos made his transcription of the
Andante movement in the style of Rachmaninov’s piano writing, and it might be mistaken
to be the composer’s own work.