People of Note

I wonder if you’ve ever heard bells emanating from the City Hall bell tower? And I don’t mean the bell of the clock. There is a fascinating instrument in the bell tower called a Carillon which as an interesting history. It has been re-furbished and completely overhauled by someone who is passionate about such an instrument. His name is Alexios Vicatos and I invited him into the People of Note stud...

Cape Town City Ballet’s production of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet Swan Lake opens at the CTICC this week.  Dancing the role of Odette is the South African ballerina Kirstel Paterson who has enjoyed a hugely successful career and has won numerous prestigious awards.  Rodney trudgeon spoke to Kirstel on People Of Note this week to find out about her career and about the role in Swan Lake.

Cape Town, with all its attractions, doesn’t seem to have that many pantomimes in the true sense of the word. Johannesburg and Durban are famous for their annual pantomimes and now the Durban company Kickstart Theatre Productions have brought their latest pantomime to Cape Town. It’s called Jack and the Beanstalk and Rodney Trudgeon spoke to the founder of Kickstart, Greg King about the production...

Starting this coming week on July 4th is one of the undoubted highlights of the classical music scene in South Africa. The Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival is celebrating it’s 20th year this year with the usual line up of local and international musicians. The scope of the festival is wide with concerts, recitals, masterclasses and interviews. The Artistic Director of the festival...

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is a distinguished journalist, writer and consultatnt. Bruce Cameron has spent most of his professional life in the media, most importantly in personal finance and has written a book on retirement. He has won numerous awards and appears regularly on radio shows and is in demand as a public speaker. People of Note – Sunday at 6pm and again on Thur...

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is Jan Glazewski who has just written a book called Blood and Silver which tells the true story of survival and a son’s search for his family’s treasure in Ukraine. Jan was born with severe haemophilia and then, on top of that, he developed HIV having been given contaminated blood during a transfusion. Despite these setbacks, Jan has had a remark...

The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is drawing huge crowds at the Theatre on the Bay and one of the most famous and iconic roles in the musical is that of Pharaoh which is played by Chris Jaftha. Chris is enjoying a very successful career in film, television, theatre and presenting and he has carved out a space as one of South Africa’s most dynamic and respected entertainers....

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is certainly a dynamic go getter. Her name is Alte Mare who is, among many other things, the founder of the non-profit company called The Choral Celebration Network Foundation which sets out to make choral music accessible to all who have an interest or talent – a platform where choirs can celebrate music together, build networks and embrace dive...

A recent visitor to Cape Town was the pianist Rebeca Omordia who is a mix of many things – a love for western classical music, a passion for Nigerian classical music and a particular love of African Art Music. The BBC hailed her as An African Music pioneer and she demonstrated her art at a recital for the Cape Town Concert Series a week or so ago. Rodney Trudgeon invited her into the People of Not...

Excitement is mounting for the opening of Cape Town Opera’s lavish production of Verdi’s grand Opera Aida on Friday 23 May. In fact, by all accounts, the entire run is very nearly sold out. Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is Magdalene Minnaar who is directing the opera and who has chosen an intriguing African Futuristic approach. People of Note, Sunday at 6pm and again on Thurs...

On People of Note this week Mike Mills stands in for Rodney Trudgeon, and Mike's guest is three time Grammy award winning flautist Wouter Kellerman. People of Note is on Sunday at 6 pm with a repeat on Thursday at 12 noon. Brought to you by Pieter Toerien Productions

Pieter Toerien’s Theatre on the Bay will be the venue for an exciting and vibrant new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s evergreen musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It is being presented by Lamta and has an all-star, young and enthusiastic cast. The musical director for the show is award-winning Amy Campbell and Rodney Trudgeon invited her into the People f Note studio to tal...

Cape Town opera is presenting one of the grandest operas in the repertoire, Verdi’s AIDA. It opens on the 23rd May directed by Magdalene Minnaar who will unveiling bold African Futurism reimagining of the opera. Part of the huge team putting the opera together is BRENDA REIN who is in Cape Town as opera coach for the production. On People of Note this week, Rodney Trudgeon spoke to Brenda about he...

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is a multi-award winning composer, choir conductor, instrumentalist and producer whose musical voice has come to be recognizable as truly innovative and unique. Pieter Bezuidenhout is also the creative director at a South African base production company, Vektor Productions and he is the conductor of 5 choral ensembles across Tshwane. He is commit...

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is someone who can really be called a veteran of radio, television, theatre and variety shows. Anne Williams was one of the first continuity announcers on SABC television back in the 70s and she has broadcast on5FM, SAfm, LM Radio and Classic FM. Now Anne is back on stage for the first time in many years in the Agatha Christie play Black coffee w...

An exciting Agatha Christie thriller has just opened at Theatre on the Bay. It’s called Black Coffee and, as always with Agatha Christie, you’ll be guessing right to the end with all the usual red herrings. The play is directed by Alan Swerdlow with Allan Committee as Hercule Poirot and Ashley Dowds is Captain Hastings. I spoke to Ashley on People of Note this week to find out more about this play...

On People of Note this week concentrates on ballet and the forthcoming production by Cape Ballet Africa called Breathwords. One of the chorographers for this varied production is the Master Spaniard Nacho Duato who enjoys an international career. His work in Breathwords is called Ramanso which features 3 male dances and with Gerard Joubert as the pianist. Rodney Trudgeon spoke to Nacho about his d...

On People of Note this week, Rodney Trudgeon talks to Paige Nick who, apart from being the editor and host of FMR’s Book Choice programme, is an internationally awarded advertising copywriter, a Sunday Times Columnist and has published nine, soon to be ten novels. Paige is passionate about books and reading and she has fascinating stories to tell about the world of literature.

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is Clive Ridgway who is a songwriter, musician, music producer, author and teacher. He has composed songs for many of South Africa’s most successful recording artists and has performed both locally and internationally. He also runs the Cape Town School of Songwriting and the AFDA School for the Creative Economy.

On People of Note Rodney Trudgeon talks to ALEX GABRIEL who was appointed a few years ago as CEO of Cape Town opera. As a musician in his own right and with years of experience combining art with business, Alex is well-equipped to drive decision making to ensure a prosperous future for Cape Town Opera. He spent 8 years teaching at UCT and also taught piano privately. We also discuss some of the pl...

An extremely interesting and original book on Mozart has just been published. It’s called “Meetings With Mozart” and is written by William Charlton-Perkins who for many years was well known in theatre and media circles in KwaZulu Natal. He was head of publicity at the Playhouse Company in Durban and has had a life long love of the music of Mozart. His debut book presents us with an original and fa...

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is Hans Huyssen - composer, baroque cellist and conductor with a special love for early European Baroque music as well as rare traditions of indigenous South African music. Last year Hans turned sixty and to celebrate he has been involved in what he calls his 60@60 Project. Many performers both local and international have been involved and on Pe...

This week on People of Note, Rodney Trudgeon will be talking to ALBIE SACHS, the South African lawyer, activist, writer and former judge who was appointed by Nelson Mandela to the first Constitutional Court of South Africa. Albie, who has just celebrated his 90th birthday, famously survived an assassination attempt in 1988 and lost his right arm and the sight in his left eye.

Rodney Trudgeon’s guest on People of Note this week is the distinguished South African flautist Liesl Stolz who not only lectures Flute at UCT but has a very busy life playing chamber music, solo works and she’s played in all the major orchestras in South Africa as guest principal. Liesl has also launched the first Woodwind Festival in South Africa which takes place from the 8 – 11 April at the Ba...

A fascinating new CD has just arrived here at FMR featuring the world premier of a cello concerto by Widor, coupled with the Lalo Cello Concerto. There is a fascinating story about the Widor concerto which has been re-constructed from fragments by the cellist Graham Du Plessis who is the soloist on the recording. Graham is based in Cape Town and is a Cello Lecturer at the South African College of...