Month: November 2016

Enjoy a classical ‘Christmas’ concert in the Maritzburg City Hall

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organLubabalo Dyasi from the Drakensberg Boys Choir takes a break from rehearsing for Music Revival’s ‘Christmas’ concert, featuring the Drakensberg Boys Choir concert, in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall on Tuesday, November 29.
General tickets are R150, with discounts for pensioners and scholars R135.
Tickets should be purchased online at http://www.ticketpro.co.za but can also be bought at CNA at The Quarry Centre in Hilton and Edgars Connect in the Liberty Midlands Mall.
Safe parking available around the City Hall and Tatham Art Gallery.

Meet Colin Hele: the man who keeps Maritzburg’s pipe organ in tune

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Colin Hele, pictured here with his wife, Rose, has been taking care of the pipe organ in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall since 1976. The couple recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

TheLuvvie.com’s Estelle Sinkins chats to Colin Hele, the man who keeps the pipe organ in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall in tune. Continue reading →

Play about Whoonga drug crisis wins big at 2016 Durban Theatre Awards

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Ulwembu, a play which examines the Whoonga drug problem in KwaZulu-Natal, won five prizes at the Mercury Durban Theatre Awards. Photo: File

ULWEMBU, a play which tackles the serious consequences of the Whoonga (low grade heroin) drug problem in Durban, was one of the big winners at this year’s Mercury Durban Theatre Awards.

Over the course of 2015, award-winning playwright and director Neil Coppen (Tin Bucket Drum, Tree Boy, Abnormal Loads and Animal Farm), actress Mpume Mtombeni, KwaMashu-based community-theatre group, The Big Brotherhood, and educational sociologist, Dylan McGarry, set about exploring the crisis.

The result of the two-year research/play-making process was a powerful new theatre production, which gave audiences the opportunity to walk in the shoes of users, dealers, police officers, social-workers and parents of drug users. Continue reading →

Jonathan Cohen stars in the tragi-comedy, ‘White Christmas’, at the Hexagon Theatre in Pietermaritzburg

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Jonathan Cohen in White Christmas. Photo: Val Adamson

THE multi-Durban Theatre Award-nominated tragi-comedy, White Christmas, is being staged at the Hexagon Theatre on the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pietermaritzburg campus, for one performance only on Saturday, December 3 at 7.30 pm.  ESTELLE SINKINS speaks to its star Jonathan Cohen. Continue reading →

Six South African books nominated for the 2016 Etisalat Prize for Literature

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The Yearning by Mohale Mashigo. Photo: Supplied
The Seed Thief by Jacqui L’Ange. Photo: Supplied
Dub Steps by Andrew Miller. Photo: Supplied
Piggy Boy’s Blues by Nakhane Toure. Photo: Supplied
Nwezelenga: The Star Child by Unathi Magubeni. Photo: Supplied

SIX South African books have been long-listed for the 2016 Etisalat Prize for Literature, writes ESTELLE SINKINS.

They are: The Peculiars by Jen Thorpe (Penguin Random House); The Yearning by Mohale Mashigo (PanMacmillan, South Africa), Piggy Boy’s Blues by Nakhane Toure (Blackbird Books imprint of Jacana Media, SA), Dub Steps by Andrew Miller (Jacana Media, South Africa), The Seed Thief by Jacqui L’Ange (Umuzi Publishers, South Africa) and Nwezelenga: The Star Child by Unathi Magubeni (Black Bird Books Imprint of Jacana Media, South Africa). Continue reading →

Enjoy naughty but nice fun at ‘Once Upon A Fairy – Not The Adult Panto’

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TQ Zondi as the Prince in ‘Once Upon A Fairy (Not the Adult Panto)’. Photo: Sonneke Kacel

THE world’s best known fairy tales get a – very adult – make-over in the festive froth and frolics that is Once Upon A Fairy (Not the Adult Panto).

Written and directed by Thomie Holtzhausen, with music arrangement by Jaziel Vaugh’ann, the show runs from November 17 to January 15 at Altitude, 25 Silver Avenue, Durban. Continue reading →

Hilton College boys’ arts auction raises R74 100 to feed needy children

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Dr Alison Misselhorn, director of research and strategy at the Lunchbox Fund (third from left), was presented with a cheque for R74 100 by Hilton College teacher Angela Salamon (far left) and pupils, Sam Nicol, Chizembi Sakulanda (Head of school 2017) and Tim Presbury. Photo:  Maralyn Atkins

FOSTERING education through nutrition is the ethos underpinning the work of the Lunchbox Fund, a non-profit organisation which provides a daily meal for orphaned and at-risk school children in South Africa, writes Estelle Sinkins.

On Tuesday, November 15, the charity received a sizable boost for its programmes in the country’s township and rural areas when Hilton College pupil, Chizembi Sakulanda, presented Dr Alison Misselhorn, director of research and strategy at the Lunchbox Fund, with a cheque for R74 100.

Hilton College’s donation will provide 28 000 meals to children for an entire year. Continue reading →

Enjoy seasonal favourites in ‘Christmas’ in the Maritzburg City Hall

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The Drakensberg Boys Choir. Photo: Jonathan Burton

THE Pietermaritzburg City Hall will come alive with the spirit of Christmas when Music Revival hosts the world-renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir in a special festive season concert at 7pm on Tuesday, November 29.

Simply titled Christmas, the concert is being co-ordinated by Christopher Duigan and Brad Glasspoole. Continue reading →

‘Christmas’ treat for music fans as David Orr prepares to play Maritzburg City Hall’s magnificent pipe organ

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David Orr will be playing the magnificent pipe organ during Music Revival’s Christmas concert in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall. Photo: Supplied

Estelle Sinkins speaks to David Orr, who admits he cannot wait to sit down and play the magnificent pipe organ in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall on Tuesday, November 29.

Epworth Shool’s head of music and culture will be accompanying the world-renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir in Music Revival’s concert, Christmas. Continue reading →

Drakensberg Boys Choir’s conductor will always hold the school close to her heart

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Charlotte Botha with members of the Drakensberg Boys Choir School. Photo: Supplied

Estelle Sinkins speaks to CHARLOTTE BOTHA, outgoing conductor of the world-renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir School, and says that, with its emphasis on music excellence and its heavenly setting in the mountains, the school and its pupils have had a special place in her heart since childhood.

Botha, who will be conducting the boys when they take to the stage of the Pietermaritzburg City Hall for Music Revival’s Christmas concert on Tuesday, November 29, says the feeling of ‘shaping the music with the movement of your arms is nothing short of magical. It is probably as close as we earth-dwellers will ever come to experiencing flight.’

The concert will be one of the last that she does with the world-renowned choristers. Continue reading →