TIL 24 November 2017

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8 A YOUNG SOUTH AFRICAN IN ‘CELLO HEAVEN’ Abel Selaocoe is a 25-year old South African who was born and grew up in Sebokeng, a township near the city of Johannesburg. He is currently in the final year of his Performance Masters degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Sue Haycock of The London Chorus caught up with him in north London, where he was doing a workshop. He was full of excitement at the prospect of playing the Elgar Cello Concerto in London at the end of November, and eager to share his life story. ‘Our family is a family of song. We are always singing. My parents didn’t go to school, so music was always something there in the family, through singing and through ways of telling stories. It was part of my African tradition’. In his home, he had no access to any kind of orchestral instrument so the story behind how he became interested in the cello is an interesting one. ‘My brother went to a music school in Soweto and said to me ‘come along at the weekends’. And they asked me to choose an instrument. I was 11 years old and I was looking through from the tuba, to the flute and finally to the cello. My brother went to the library and found out how to hold a bow, and what the cello notes were. So I started to learn from his notes on bits of paper and he would give me a broomstick and I would hold it and put it on my shoulder and see what the motion is like – just that feeling. And I actually fell in love with the cello because of the character of the person who was teaching it, Kutlwano Masote. He was an incredible cellist. Abel Selaocoe. He was this beacon of hope for a lot of the township children showing us that there is a bigger world out there.’ Abel started playing the cello at weekends with Masote and gradually people started to notice him and realise how much potential he had. He was sponsored to go to one of Johannesburg’s top schools where he had access to all the music he could handle. ‘It was a whole new world from the township. I was so privileged’. The ‘new world’ he had entered encouraged him to play all over South Africa, with some big orchestras and some small groups and eventually he ended up coming over to UK and the Northern College of Music. He describes this as ‘cello heaven’ and he continues to study there under the renowned cellist, Hannah Roberts. He is excited about his prospects here, but he hasn’t lost his love of his home and the debt he owes to his family and mentors. ‘My duty is to go back and my idea is to work and play out programmes and show people what I have learned from here by way of classical music and by way of improvisation.’ Improvisation is a theme Abel keeps returning to. He is intensely interested in the fusion of western and African music and, indeed, in music from cultures around the world. He has co-founded a quintet called Kabantu, ‘a wonderful group of people. We play music from all over the world, and we improvise a lot. We take the influence of the spoken idea – that you pass on a melody through thousands of years and through each generation which has its own stamp.’ They are releasing an album ‘Of People’ next February. So now he will be in London to play Elgar’s iconic cello concerto at Cadogan Hall ‘I think it is an incredibly lush, wonderful, elegiac piece, and think there is so much I can do with it. There are so many different sound worlds within it, so much character. And it is such a pleasure to play it in London. What an honour! I can’t wait!’. © Sue Haycock, The London Chorus. Abel Selaocoe with The London Chorus will be in concert at Cadogan Hall, SW1 on 30 November at 19.30. The London Chorus is London’s most versatile choir, practising and performing a challenging and varied repertoire and continually developing its tradition of excellence. Formerly known as the London Choral Society, the 120 members of the choir are amateur singers from all walks for life, but performances are at the highest professional level under the baton of composer and conductor Ronald Corp OBE. For tickets, telephone the box office on 020 7730 4500 or visit the website www.cadoganhall.com t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
THE HANOVER BAND 2017 MESSIAH BY CANDLELIGHT TOUR George Frederic Handel composed Messiah in just 24 days, a wonderful achievement, completing it on September 14th 1741. Although Handel borrowed some music from earlier compositions, there is no sense of disorganised structure. Indeed, it is a carefully crafted masterpiece, showing inspired architectural design, taking listeners from the first sombre chords to the triumphant final chorus. Messiah received its first performance in Dublin, at the request of the Dublin Charitable Music Society and for the benefit of the foundling Hospital in London. The Hanover Band under the direction of Andrew Arthur, will perform with soloists Erica Eloff soprano, Timothy Morgan alto, Bradley Smith tenor, Tristan Hambleton bass and the superlative Hanover Band Chorus in the wonderful setting of Kings Place on 14 December at 19.30. Founded by Caroline Brown, The Hanover Band has an international reputation for the excellence of its performances and recordings of 18th and 19th century music. Its players are some of the best in their field. They perform, record and undertake education work regularly in the UK and have toured throughout Europe, USA (East and West) Canada, Mexico and in 2017 opened for the Beijing International Music Festival. The orchestra’s impressive discography of 176 commercial CDs includes an award-winning Beethoven cycle (Nimbus Goodman), Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (Sony Mackerras), Handel’s Serse (BMG McGegan), Bach Brandenburg Concertos (EMI Halstead), Weber Horn Concertino (Halstead Nimbus) Bach Cantatas, Handel Opera Arias with Natalie Stutzmann (BMG), Mozart Arias, The Supreme Decorator (Opera Rara Mackerras) and their most recent recording, the Mozart Horn Concertos with Hyperion ( Pip Eastop/Halstead). For tickets, telephone 0207 520 1490. The Hanover Band. 9 t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
Page 1: 61 Years Informing International &
Page 4: 4 CHRISTMAS TOURS AT THE HOUSES OF
Page 7: HAMLEYS: THE FINEST TOY SHOP IN THE
Page 11 and 12: MARISHA WALLACE PERFORMS SOUL HOLID
Page 13 and 14: wembleystadium.com/tours 0800 169 9
Page 15 and 16: MODIGLIANI AT TATE MODERN Tate Mode
Page 18 and 19: 18 SVETLANA ZAKHAROVA AND STARS OF
Page 20 and 21: 20 Photo: Brinkhoff & Moegenburg PL
Page 22: 22 ST KATHARINE DOCKS CELEBRATES TH

TIL 24 November 2017

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