Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
The Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Orchestra was launched in 2004 as part of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s development and transformation plan and is a vibrant ensemble sought after in Cape Town for corporate gigs and concerts. It has performed in Infecting the City, at the V&A Waterfront, for the Fleur du Cap awards and recently was filmed for an international film, The Last Face, directed by Sean Penn in Cape Town. It has also performed at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Festival, Hugo Lambrecht’s Music Centre Orchestra Festival, Mercedes Benz SA Fashion Week, Iziko Museum Youth Day Celebrations, and at international congress openings.
Conducted by the Cape Town Philharmonic’s charismatic resident conductor Brandon Phillips, the winner of the 1st Len Van Zyl Conductors’ Competition and also music director of the CPYO, the orchestra performs regular curtain raisers for the CPO and traditionally brings the CPO’s annual International Summer Music Festivals to a close in February each year. The CPYO has performed with many well-known artists including Loyiso Bala, Zwai Bala, Ivan Siegelaar, Neville D, Magdalene Minnaar and the Soweto Gospel Choir. A DVD of its performance at the “Great Hymns of Faith” concert with Loyiso Bala, Siegelaar and Neville D has been produced by composer Bruce Retief, who arranged all the music. The DVD of its collaboration with reggae band “Trenton and the Free Radicals” in the song Mr Mandela has been released abroad. This was the first time that reggae and a classical orchestra worked together on a production in South Africa. It also undertook a tour to Gauteng where it collaborated with the Orchestra Company in an acclaimed concert in Johannesburg.
The high standard of the CPYO is well-established, and it has been coached or been rehearsed by, for instance, members of visiting Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov and maestri Yazuo Shinazaki and Bernhard Gueller.
CPYO strives to build bridges trough music to unite our Youth and provide excellent professional training to young up-coming musicians in the Western Cape.
Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
PO Box 4040
Cape Town
021 4109982
[email protected]
