Magical music shows at the Hilton Arts Festival
The Hilton Arts Festival runs from September 23 to 25, at Hilton College in Hilton.
There are a wide variety of events, many of them free.
These are the shows in the music programme. Booking is at Quicket.
Accidentally Viral
Father and daughter, Adrian and Emma-Jean Galliard shot to fame after uploading a video of the Bocelli/Dion hit, The Prayer, to Facebook on Easter Sunday 2020. The video was an instant hit and it quickly climbed to six million views.
Accidentally Viral tells the story of how their sudden and unexpected fame kicked off a fairytale musical adventure complete with international acclaim and comical incidents of mistaken identity.
The show features favourites such as Hallelujah, You Are The Reason and of course, the song that started it all, The Prayer, while the duo share fascinating insights into their experiences along the way.
Written and directed by Kirsty Galliard, with musical direction by Kevin Greenberg, the show can be seen at 6 pm on Friday, September 23, 8 pm on Saturday, September 24 and 2 pm on Sunday, September 25 in the music auditorium. Tickets are R120.
Internationally-acclaimed concert pianist, and Hilton Festival favourite, Christopher Duigan plays a superb programme of turbulent and dramatic classical piano music in the Hilton College Chapel at 11 am on Sunday, September 25.
The programme includes Ludwig van Beethoven’s popular Pathétique Sonata Op. 13 and Liszt’s Dante Sonata. A composition with the most dramatic music, the Dante Sonata, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, together with Sposalizio, and Sonetto
104 del Petrarca which Duigan includes, form part of the composer’s most sublime and compelling music from The Years of Pilgrimage: Italy.
Tickets for the concert are R150.
Eva Cassidy
Fresh from earning an Ovation Award at the 2022 National Arts Festival, this tribute, starring Kerry Hiles, is at once beautiful and tragic, the stuff legends are made of.
Eva Cassidy died at the age of 33, but, as with all great legends, what seemed to be the end was actually the beginning.
With Fields Of Gold, Over
The Rainbow and Fever, as well as familiar jazz, gospel and blues numbers, audiences will laugh, cry, and celebrate a singer who was discovered too late.
Hiles is accompanied by guitarist, Rob Thompson, and drummer, Kristo Zondagh, in the music auditorium at 8:15 pm on Friday, September 23, 2 pm on Saturday, September 24 and Sunday, September 25, at 10 am.
Mad About The Boys
An ode to the lives of Ivor Novello, the matinee idol, Noel Coward, the quintessential English gentleman and the American playboy, Cole Porter.
Think of a certain suave, urbane style that reigned in theatre and the movies during the ’20s and ’30s. Think of cigarettes, smoking jackets and cocktails. Think of cynical epigrams, and sexy, witty, world-weary songs.
It is sheer entertainment and might be just what we all need right now. Starring Daniel Anderson, accompanied by Germainne Gamiet, this little gem entails a series of vignettes round each of the Boys and, of course the songs that made them immortal.
Shows are at 4 pm on Friday, September 23 and 4 pm on Saturday, September 24, in the music auditorium. Tickets are R160.
Musical Memory Lane
Roland Perold leads this charming trip down memory lane as he explores hits from the golden age of musical theatre, featuring composers like Bernstein, Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sondheim and others.
Shows are at 10 am and 6 pm on Saturday, September 24 in the music auditorium. Tickets are R140.
The Last Five Years
Jason Robert Brown’s award-winning musical The Last Five Years is a one-act drama-comedy telling the bittersweet love story of Catherine Hiatt, a struggling actress, and Jamie Wellerstein, an up-and-coming novelist.
Cathy reflects on their relationship from end to first meeting, whilst Jamie’s story moves chronologically. They meet only once, in the middle of the show.
The show stars Anthony Downing and Zoë McLaughlin and is directed by award-winning director Paul Griffiths. Musical direction is by Jaco Griessel.
Shows are at 5:30 pm on Friday, September 23, 2:30 pm on Saturday, September 24 and 2:30 pm on Sunday, September 25, in the Hilton College Theatre. Tickets are R200.
Vincent
Vincent van Gogh – a complex man, with a ruthless drive to create and who desired to love and be loved. Towards the end of his short life, Vincent, who suffered from mental illness, was treated by a Doctor Gachet.
Vincent wrote to his brother, Theo: “A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke.” The 37-year-old painter died, impoverished, of a self-inflicted wound in 1890. His painting, The Portrait of Doctor Gachet, was sold, within three minutes, for $75m.
Now a multi-media cabaret written and directed by Amanda Bothma, with musical director and pianist Germainne Gamiet, the show stars Daniel Anderson.
See it on Saturday, September 24 and Sunday, September 25 at 12 noon in the music auditorium. Tickets are R160.
Please note that there is an entrance fee of R100 per vehicle which is valid for all three days.
You will be given a ticket on entry which you will need to take to Info or box office (both clearly marked). When you have paid you will be given an exit pass, valid for the duration. This income will assist covering the costs of festival infrastructure.
For more information about the Hilton Arts Festival go to www. hiltonfestival.co.za