Monthly Archives: January 2017

What a wonderful chamber music concert at Northwards on Sunday 29 January 2017. The Odeion String Quartet (Samson Diamond, 1st violin; Sharon de Kock, 2nd violin; Anmari van der Westhuizen, cello; Jeanne-Louise Moolman, viola) played Bartok’s 5th String Quartet and … Continue reading →

I attended the Salon Music Don Giovanni at the Brooklyn Theatre as part of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival 2017 season.  What a lovely production! The score has been arranged for a small ensemble so as to make it an … Continue reading →

Title: La La Land Year: 2016 Country:  USA Director:  Damien Chazelle Starring:  Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Musical comedy drama. Seven Golden Globe Awards. Best Motion Picture Muical or Comedy, Best Director, Best Actor (Gosling), Best Actress (Stone), Best Screenplay, … Continue reading →

Title:  Allied Year:  2016 Director: Robert Zemeckis Starring:  Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard Rating: 13 L S V Runtime: 125 minutes Release Date: 20 January 2017 (South Africa) This is the movie which supposedly caused Angelina to dump Brad because … Continue reading →

One of the great characters for any actor to play is Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, a “split” personality, one genial and good, the other completely malevolent.  James McAvoy gets to play many of the 23 personalities which his character, … Continue reading →

Daphne Kuhn is a brave theatre producer. Without any government sponsorship she occasionally takes on a deserving work without being sure that it will fill houses and pay salaries.  She does it because she feels she owes the theatre going … Continue reading →

The House of Truth is  play by Siphiwo Mahala.  It premiered at the National Arts Festival in 2016 where it received rave reviews and it is now at The Market Theatre, a very natural home for this work.  It is … Continue reading →

Title:  Monster Trucks Year: 2016 Country:  USA Directed by Chris Wedge Starring:  Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Amy Ryan, Rob Lowe, Danny Glover, Barry Pepper and Hot McCallany Genre:  Action/comedy Type:  3D computer animated Release date:  13 January 2017 This is … Continue reading →

The 2017 Johannesburg International Mozart Festival programme is online at http://www.join-mozart-festival.org.  Bookings at Computicket. As usual this festival kicks off with a Viennese New Year Concert (repeated because it is too popular for just one performance).  The theme of this … Continue reading →

What would a Mozart Festival be without any Mozart on the programme?  This year, the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival is partnering with Salon Music and Brooklyn Theatre for their presentation of Don Giovanni at the Brooklyn Theatre in Pretoria.  Orchestration … Continue reading →