Cape Town-born piano maestro Paul Hanmer will dazzle – for the first time on the stage of The Theatre at the Artscape – alongside a 25-piece orchestra and band on Tuesday 1 March.

The concert dubbed “Coming Home – a jazz symphonic experience”, is a cross section and showcase of Hanmer’s work both as a jazz pianist and a composer of art music. For decades now, Hanmer has been scoring some of his music for orchestra with great success. In 2011, his orchestration skills were called to action when he worked alongside Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil and the award-winning Vusi Mahlasela accompanied by the MIAGI Orchestra. This project was repeated at the Montreux Jazz Festival to critical acclaim.

What of the repertoire then? The careful curated set list will include favorites like Unspoken Secrets, Trains To Taung, You Must Nêva as well as Hanmer signature, The Meeting of the Women. Guest singer Lynelle Kenned will perform two art songs by Hanmer, accompanied by the orchestra. The orchestra is made up of freelance musicians from Cape Town and Kutlwano Masote, a long-time collaborator of Hanmer will be at the conductor’s podium. Says Masote, “It is always a pleasure to work with Paul and I look forward to making our joint debuts at Artscape in Cape Town. We have a compelling selection of his music on the menu and I hope Capetonians will come out in number to celebrate Paul with us.”

The concert is a one-night-only event made possible by funding from the Mzansi Golden Economy funding of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, with the support of Artscape and Fine Music Radio.

The performance will take place on Tuesday 1 March at 8pm and tickets cost R200 at Computicket. There will be a limited number of seats available as all Covid 19 protocols will be adhered to.

Enquiries: Ma-Setlogelo Masote

083 309 4648/setlogelo@webmaestro.co.za