Joe Blog

There must be few ways of enjoying a morning’s coffee than having listened to one of South Africa’s top sopranos sing Puccini’s famous aria, “O mio babbino caro”. This is just one of the treats on offer at the St Francis Music Festival on Saturday 10 May 2025 when Ilze van Staden will delight the audience with this aria. Some of the world’s most popular soprano arias will be featured in the concert that begins at 11.00 am. Accompanied by the Apple Green Orchestra under the leadership of Festival Director Tim Roberts, other arias to be featured will be Antonio Vivaldi’s “Domine Deus”, the ever-popular “Nella Fantasia” by Enni Morricone and Frans Lehar’s “Vilja”. To conclude her programme, Ilze will fill the beautiful space at St Francis with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Alleliua”, one of the composer’s most loved pieces.

In between this celebration of the colotura soprano, the Apple Green Orchestra will transport us to the home of the tango in the dance halls of Beunos Aires with their performances of Carlos Gardel’s “Por una Cabeza” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango”. These are just two of the well known and popular pieces of music that will entertain the audience in between Ilze’s songs. They will close a delightful morning with the ever-popular JS Bach/Gonoud “Ave Maria”.