Fiona Chisholm
ON Saturday, the tall, blonde and beautiful mezzo-soprano Jacobi de Villiers will finally experience her first “opening night” for Cape Town Opera at Artscape. She will appear in the first South African performances of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in the supporting role of Anna Kennedy, the confidante of Mary Stewart, the Scottish Queen caught in a deadly struggle for power and romance with her “bastard” cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England.
Directed by Matthew Wild and with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kamal Khan, the performances on Saturday and Sunday mark the first part of the 2015-2018 Grand Opera Masters Series. This has been made possible by a R5.2m bequest from Naspers to celebrate their centenary. This money will also fund a concert, three fully-staged operas, outreach and training of CTO singers and the services of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. As Maria Stuarda is a semi-staged production, concentrating on the music and the voices, rather than elaborate sets and movement, a double stellar cast – including several recent important prize winners – has been assembled to do justice in this historic tale of spite, ambition and jealousy. The opera will be sung in Italian with English translations on a high screen.
Thus De Villiers will comfort and accompany to the scaffold two different Scottish Queens (Noluvuyiso Mpofu and Maudée Montierre) so handing victory to the two powerful English Queens, (Violina Anguelov and Bongiwe Nakani) while Lukhanyo Moyake and Makudupanyane Senaoanal alternate as “the man in the middle” Roberto.
“I really recommend audiences see both casts,” said De Villiers. “The leading singers are so talented and each brings something different in her interaction with the other characters – Talbot, Maria’s father confessor (George Stevens) and the villain Cecil (Sandile Sikhosana). There is only one set – a framework designed by Michael Mitchell in which all the action happens, but the beautifully stylised Elizabethan costumes are elaborate and made from rich fabrics in silk and taffeta.
“Matthew wants the two queens to convey their royalty through their posture and bearing. So he tells them not to fidget and to walk tall as though they have books on their heads. “
Born in Port Elizabeth and later moving to Durbanville, Jacobi completed her Masters in Drama at Stellenbosch University before being “wowed” by opera when she and her father began attending performances at Artscape.
“After seeing Carmen I thought ‘I could do that too’, not having a clue what an intricate art form opera is and how hard you have to work at all the various aspects of it – you can’t just go out and start singing opera, even if you have bucket loads of talent. It requires detailed training and immense dedication.”
Six years ago her first step into opera was to be accepted into the Cape Town Opera Chorus, bonding easily with her fellow singers who call her Joko. Like many of them she comes from the Eastern Cape and first developed a love of singing through participating in numerous choirs. As a toddler her first words were in Xhosa rather than her home language of Afrikaans.
Since 2009 she has sung in the chorus in many local and touring productions such as Show Boat, Porgy and Bess, Mandela Trilogy and African Angels. But not till this month has she been rewarded with a role all to herself and guaranteed an opening night at Artscape.
“Anna is only a small role, but I feel it is an important step forward in a gradual and difficult process. I’m often on the stage comforting Maria Stuarda on her fearful journey. Donizetti portrays Maria as a martyr. He really knew his audience, and the music beautifully develops sympathy for Maria’s plight. It’s very moving.”
This year, in her passion to develop her career, Joko decided to leave the chorus with its perks of a salary and travel and, with the support of her husband Alex Benkenstein, has enrolled for the two year post-graduate diploma in opera performance at UCT.
Her chorus friends now hearing her lovely contralto on its own for the first time, have been most supportive, passing comments like, “Hey Joko, we didn’t know you were sitting on so much talent….”
l Tickets: 0861 915 8000, www.computicket.com and Shoprite/Checkers stores.