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SCENE IT: Cape Town Opera’s Gershwin Recital Paves a Stairway to Paradise
- Feb 23
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 25
Maria Kearns
You don’t always need a clever script and slick transitions to put on a proper show; sometimes, all that’s required is a programme filled with uninterrupted divine music. Give the people a Gershwin recital and they will come.
Last Sunday, Cape Town Opera did just that with their offering at this year’s Maynardville Open-Air Festival, GERSHWIN IN THE PARK. Accompanied by the inimitable Jan Hugo on piano, the Cape Town Opera soloists and students—and, of course, Antoinette Huyssen’s world-class Chorus—delivered a programme of some of George Gershwin’s best-known work.
This concert format provided Cape Town Opera with a stellar opportunity to give its 2026 cohort of Judith Neilson Young Artists some stage time. While these performances didn’t all come off entirely wobble-free, they certainly left one with a certain excitement about what the future holds for these students and local opera-lovers.
The first of the Young Artists on the programme, tenor Dumisa Masoka and soprano Sisikelelwe Mngenela, needed a few moments to settle into their rendition of ‘Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off’, but delivered a fun performance once they grew into it.
Promising soprano Khayakazi Madlala sang ‘The Man I Love’ and ‘Summertime’. During the former, there was evidence of some unsettled nerves, but once she hit her stride, the performance was gorgeous. The latter was beautifully and sensitively sung (and benefited from the haunting presence of the Chorus).
Tenor Thandolwethu Longo and soprano Mngenela delivered their very entertaining ‘Do, Do, Do’ like an old-timey couple from a proper movie musical. Mngenela’s sweet, bird-like voice was also showcased during her performance of ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’. While there may have been slight breathing and microphone issues here, these are minor points that did not detract from the beauty of the young soprano’s voice.
As for the mezzo-sopranos, ‘Love Is Here to Stay’ revealed Rethabile Khaile’s powerful, supple voice. (One suspects if she can overcome some mild breathing and focus difficulties, she’ll be a performer to be reckoned with.)
Her fellow mezzo’s delivery of ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’ showed Nica Reinke to be very secure, both vocally (with that lovely, consistent vibrato) and in terms of performance.
And just when one might have thought that was it from the students, bass baritone Thabo Mabuse burst on to stage with a truly astonishing take on ‘I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’’ and ‘Bess, You Is my Woman Now’. This young singer has apparently been blessed with the voice of someone who has lived a lot longer and seen a lot more, and his clear comfort in performance made one wish to hear Mabuse sing again as soon as possible. Interspersed among the young singers were the company’s house soloists: soprano Brittany Smith, mezzo-soprano Nonhlanhla Yende, tenor Lukhanyo Moyake, and baritone Conroy Scott.
Yende’s voice was even warmer than the golden hue of her dress. She handled the intimidating intervals in ‘My Cousin in Milwaukee’ with consummate ease, and her rendition of ‘A Stairway to Paradise’ made one suspect she could make an hour of scales sound exciting. Yende’s stage presence really is magnetic, and her performance of ‘’S Wonderful’ (with the suave, sensitive Moyake) commanded attention from the first note to the last.
Much has been said of singing with amplification and performing al fresco, and this isn’t the place to rehash any of that; suffice it to say that Conroy Scott sounded, as always, as naturally at ease with the sound setup at Maynardville as if he’d been born with that mic in his hand. His performances of ‘Fascinating Rhythm’ (with Smith) and ‘I Got Rhythm’ (with the Chorus) seemed entirely effortless and proved definitively that the man does, indeed, have rhythm in addition to that glorious voice.
Smith’s ‘By Strauss’ was a well-rehearsed triumph that allowed her to display her comedic abilities and fantastic diction, and Moyake’s ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ (with the Chorus) saw him take a fun song and make it really fun: a true joy to behold.
It has to be said that the Chorus, or the Cape Town Opera Vocal Ensemble, to give them their proper name, threatened to steal the show throughout with their flawless, stirring performances of ‘Oh, I Can’t Sit Down’, ‘I Ain’t Got No Shame’, and ‘Leaving for the Promised Land’, as did musical director Jan Hugo, who closed both halves of the programme with piano solos. His ‘Embraceable You’ was enchanting, and his ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ alone turned out to be worth the price of admission. Hugo delivered the kind of performance that might really make one think up creatively cruel curses for that man two rows back who can’t stop shuffling his feet in the gravel as if he doesn’t understand that there’s a genius at work under those stage lights.
If this highly enjoyable evening were any indication of things to come this year, I’d strongly suggest booking your seats for Cape Town Opera’s 2026 season with all possible haste.
The music programme at this year’s Maynardville Open-Air Festival concludes with THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK on 1 March 2026. You can also still enjoy entertainment under the stars with the extended run of Shakespeare's much-loved comedy, TWELFTH NIGHT, until 12 March 2026. Tickets can be booked online through Quicket.