VC's concerts struts musical talents

It was a spectacle of plumes, riffs and saucy Mozart as students and faculty from UCT's South African College of Music (SACM) strutted their musical stuff at the two Vice-Chancellor's Concerts at the Baxter Theatre Centre last week. An annual drawcard for the past 20 years or so, the event again lured hundreds into the Baxter's concert hall, with hardly a vacant seat on either of the runs last Thursday and Friday evenings. The feather-capped Dizu Plaatjies, as has become custom over the past few years, again kicked off the soiree by plucking sweet sounds from a selection of traditional African instruments. The UCT Big Band then went sonorous and contemplative - as the tune required - as they proffered renditions of Woody Herman, Glora Bosman and Duke Ellington pieces, among others. Organ and piano acts followed after the interval, and finally a procession of students from the SACM's Opera School regaled the galleries with their vocal gymnastics, performing - with sometimes risqué abandon - compositions from some popular operas. The concerts were as usual organised by Judy Smit and her trusty band of collaborators at the Department of Communication and Development, alongside Gillian Lindner of the SACM.

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