The Johannesburg Philharmonic’s Orchestra’s first season kicks off on Wednesday 9 February

Date: 08 Fabruary 2011

The Johannesburg Philharmonic’s Orchestra’s first season kicks off on Wednesday 9 February.
Johannesburg concerts will take place on Wednesday and Thursday nights at the Linder Auditorium in Parktown. Selected programmes will be repeated at Unisa’s ZK Matthews Hall in Pretoria on Sunday afternoons.

The first three weeks of the season will see Emil Tabakov, the eminent Bulgarian conductor, composer and double-bass player, leading the JPO as well as a number of top international soloists. Maestro Tabakov is well-known around the world as a guest conductor and has an enormous repertoire featuring a variety of styles from classical and romantic to contemporary genres.

On Wednesday, 9 February 2011 and Thursday, 10 February 2011, the JPO will kick off its first season of concerts for 2011 with Rossini’s Semiramide: Overture and Mozart’s Symphony No.36, K.425, C major (Linz), and will be joined by pianist Michael Roll for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto, No.4, Op.58, G major.
Roll is one of Britain’s most distinguished pianists, who came to prominence at an early age and has since enjoyed a career that has taken him around the world, giving recitals and appearing with prominent orchestras. The programme will be repeated at Unisa’s ZK Matthews Hall at 3pm on Sunday, 13 February.
On 16 and 17 February, the orchestra will perform another Mozart composition, The Impresario Overture, K486, as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No.4, Op.60, B-flat major. Also on the menu is Haydn’s Cello Concerto, Hob.V11b:2, D major, featuring talented 25-year-old Belorussian cellist Georgi Anichenko, now based in Paris, who has won several international music competitions – including first prize in the Unisa International String Competition.

The following week, on 23 and 24

February (as well as on 27 February at Unisa), it’s the turn of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture, Saint-Saëns’s Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op.28, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34. Accomplished and highly decorated Bulgarian violinist Svetlin Roussev will make a special appearance, performing Ravel’s Tzigane, Rapsodie de concert for Violin & Orchestra.
Join the JPO for some choice musical encounters of the classical kind in 2011! The Wednesday and Thursday night concerts at the Linder Auditorium start at 8pm, and the Unisa Sunday concerts start at 3pm. Tickets are available at Computicket or at the door. For more information, call 011 789 2733, e-mail info@jpo.co.za or visit http://www.jpo.co.za/.

Nominees of the 5th SAFTAs were announced at an event graced by industry professionals, government officials,

Date: 28 January 2011
Article: Madoda Ntuli

Nominees of the 5th SAFTAs were announced at an event graced by industry professionals, government officials, awards nominees and celebrities. The event was held at the Ster-kinekor Theatres complex at The Zone in Rosebank.

The SAFTAs are industry awards of which the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) of South Africa are the industry appointed custodians. The awards’ main objectives are to honour, celebrate and promote the creativity, quality and excellence of South African, film and television talent, and encourage entrepreneurship and the development of new talent in the industry.

"The NFVF congratulate this year's nominees and wish them all the best for the main event where all winners will be revealed. The NFVF, the SAFTAS Committee as well as the judging panel are amazed at the support the awards received this year. Eighteen (18) feature films were submitted to contest in the 5th SAFTAs, tripling the number of entries in this genre compared to last year's awards," says Eddie Mbalo NFVF CEO. Mbalo further emphasised that the increase in the features entry is testament that the industry is indeed thriving. "With commitment to supporting the industry by the Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile, we are guaranteed that the industry will grow to its full potential as a business sector and an economic contributer to the country."

Leading the movie pack with eleven (11) nominations in the Feature Film category is Life Above All, followed by Spud and Jozi with six (6) nominations each. Life Above All’s (eleven) 11 nominations comes as no surprise given its popularity on the international platform, and was recently named in the top nine contest for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 83rd Academy Awards. The film began to garner recognition at the 2010 Cannes International Film festival.

In the Soapie drama genre, Isidingo is on top with ten (10) nominations. The soapie, broadcast on SABC 3 is followed by e-tv’s Rhythm City with six (6) nominations. However, 7 de Laan (SABC 2), which was voted by the public as the Best Soapie during the 2009 awards, failed to impress the judges, only receiving one nomination for Best Ensemble in a TV Soapie.

"Once again it was a pleasure to officiate during the judging process. The judges all took on board their responsibilities and the process was efficiently managed by the NFVF. Congratulations to all the nominees and we look forward to the awards event, says Paul Raleigh, the SAFTAs Chairperson.

The 5th SAFTAs will be held at Melrose Arch at Madame Zingara's Theatre of Dreams over a period of two weekends. The first event to be held on Sunday 20th of February will award winners in the Non-fiction categories, followed by the second session which will award the Fiction categories to be held on Sunday 27th of February. "We are very excited about the event this year. The process of the past 9 months from call for entries to the judging process and now the run up to the event has been a labour of love for all concerned and hosting the awards in the Madame Zingara Theatre of Dreams will be a delightfully daring experience," says Azania Muendane, NFVF Head of Marketing and Public Affairs.

Judging panels made up of industry organisation representatives, institutions, companies, media and general society select the nominees and the eventual category award winners. The judging process of the SAFTAS is overseen by independent auditors Pricewaterhouse Coopers who ensure that the process is fairly undertaken.