Introduction

The international festival 'Out of the Shadows: Rediscovering Jewish Music and Theatre' took place in Cape Town and Stellenbosch from 10th to 17th September 2017. It was the last of five major festivals spanning the globe, performing to more than 10,000 people in total. The festivals fell under the auspices of the UK Arts & Humanities Research Council project Performing the Jewish Archive (www.ptja.leeds.ac.uk), a collaboration between the Universities of Leeds, York, Wisconsin–Madison and Sydney, alongside 25 partner organisations around the world.

Leading contemporary performers from South Africa and beyond took part in the festival, including the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Conrad van Alphen, Aviva Pelham, Michelle Maxwell, Matthew Reid, the Cape Soloists Choir, Kensington Chorale, and many, many more besides. The project's traveling exhibition was housed at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and also displayed at each performance during the festival.

Major partners in South Africa included the Universities of Cape Town (South African College of Music, Kaplan Centre for Jewish Music) and Stellenbosch  (Konservatorium, Department of Drama); the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation and the South African Jewish Museum; Cape Town Hebrew Congregation and Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation.

Programme Summary

Festival Opening Concert. Singing the Songs of Zion: 150 Years of Synagogue Music in the Cape

Sunday 10 September, 16:30

Gardens Synagogue, Cape Town

A Memorial and a Celebration: ‘Out of the Shadows’ opening reception

Sunday 10 September, 19:00

Cape Town Holocaust Centre

New songs from the Jewish Archive: Looking forward through the past

Tuesday 12 September, 13:10, Fismer Hall, Stellenbosch

Friday 15 September, 13:10, Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town

Looking forward through the past: A symposium

Tuesday 12 September, 15:00, Jannasch Hall, Stellenbosch

Wednesday 13 September, 13:10, Kaplan Centre, University of Cape Town

A Comedy of Us Jews

Tuesday 12 September, 18:00 & 20:00

Jewish Museum, Cape Town

Prince Bettliegend

Wednesday 13 September, 20:00, Theatre Arts Admin Collective, Methodist Church Hall

Friday 15 September, 20:15, Drostdy Theatre, Stellenbosch

Walter, Werner and Wilhelm’s far-distant spring: expressionist voices from Vienna, Frankfurt and Berlin

Thursday 14 September, 13:10

Baxter Concert Hall, Cape Town

Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Conrad van Alphen:

Wilhelm Grosz “Serenade”

Thursday 14 September, 20:00

City Hall, Cape Town

Fractured Lives: Music of the Holocaust

Saturday 16 September, 20:00

Endler Hall, Stellenbosch

Red Riding Hood

Sunday 17 September, 11:00

Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium, Cape Town

Journeys in Jewish Choral Music

Sunday 17 September, 15:00

Erin Hall, Cape Town