Staging Stories - Cape Town Opera @ Ian Burgess-Simpson Pianos

Cape Town Opera, Staging Stories

From page to score! Two of the five original libretti developed through Cape Town Opera's 2025 Staging Stories programme take their next step towards the stage. Experience the first musical interpretations of these new South African operas, followed by a conversation with the creative teams about bringing stories to life through music.

Presented at Ian Burgess-Simpson Pianos Music and Recital Space as part of an ongoing collaboration with Cape Town Opera. This is an open public event with no ticket pricing.

Mam’ Dolly Makes a Wish

Composer: Clare Loveday

Librettist: Lebogang Mogashoa

Soprano: Sipamandla Moyeke

Pianist: Jan Hugo

Mam’ Dolly Makes a Wish is a short opera about a matriarch who, on her sixtieth birthday, reflects on her life. She fantasises about the different choices she could have made, and wonders whether it is still possible to shake herself out of her rigid role as wife, mother, sister-in-law and grandmother: a so-called “good woman”. And if she could, what would she do?

The opera takes place in the few moments when Mam’ Dolly closes her eyes to make a wish, just before blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. It plays out as a fantasy of her varied thoughts, which run the gamut from the sincere to the hilarious and the sensual. This emotional landscape allows for songs and music that move from quiet and intimate to grand, exuberant and outlandish.

Dance of the Twin Gods

Composer: Pieter Bezuidenhout

Librettist: Nona Zuri

Mezzo-Soprano: Rethabile Khaile

Mezzo-Soprano: Nica Reinke

Pianist: Jan Hugo

Dance of the Twin Gods is a one-act chamber opera about two gods, Cap and Pap, who live in Neither Nor, an endless, starry realm. From there they constantly manipulate the lives of human beings on earth, determined never to fade into oblivion, which is the fate of all forgotten gods.

As the gods go about their affairs, they grow worried about the questions the people below are beginning to ask themselves. These are so-called moments of enlightenment, about things such as love and true friendship. The gods must rethink their strategy to make sure they never lose their place as honoured gods. Then they realise that one of them is showing signs of disappearing, and it becomes a race against human will to save the fading god.