· Thursday 6 February The Tunnel Series 2: Sabotage – 2

· Friday 7 February Johann Strauss II: Aschenbrodel – ballet [Johann Strauss II was born on 25 October 1825]

· Thursday 13 February The Tunnel Series 2: Sabotage – 3 [last]

· Friday 14 February Waldbühne Concert with Renée Fleming for Valentine’s Day!

· Thursday 20 February Ladies in Lavender [Maggie Smith and Judi Dench]

· Friday 21 February Public Holiday

· Thursday 27 February Singin’ in the Rain

· Friday 28 February Concert: Bradley Dube, Akin Chariga and Tich Makalisa

Subscriptions are due on 1 February and a notice about renewals has been sent!

SPONSORSHIP

The Academy has recently concluded a major sponsorship deal with Telco Zimbabwe who have been a leading performer in Zimbabwe’s digital business for over 30 years.

The partnership will ultimately involve courses in digital music, digital graphics, digital sound engineering, film production and stage lighting, but the initial indications will be substantial repairs and maintenance including a new front fence, painting the building and work on the roof which the current rainy season has shown to be no longer watertight!

This is an exciting development for the Academy: not only will it result in necessary improvements but it will also give it a boost in terms of enrolment and raise its profile.

THURSDAY 6 FEBRUARY AT 6.30 P.M. THE TUNNEL: SABOTAGE – 2

Carriages: 9.00 p.m.

This is an excellently written series. It is sophisticated in its plot and deep in its character development. [Amazon]

Admission: $3.00 [free to Film members]

FRIDAY 7 FEBRUARY AT 6.30 P.M. JOHANN STRAUSS II: ASCHENBRÖDEL

Carriages: 8.30 p.m.

Johann Strauss II was born on 25 October 1825]

In 1898 Johann Strauss II was commissioned to write a ballet. A Viennese newspaper had offered a prize of 4,000 crowns for its scenario and the winner provided a modern version of the traditional Cinderella story. Strauss started work on the new score in the summer of 1898 but died a year later before it was complete. His friend Josef Bayer, director of the Vienna Court Ballet for thirty years, prepared a full score from Strauss’s surviving material and the ballet was first seen in 1901.

Recorded live in December 1999, this celebrated Vienna State Opera production combines everything a romantic ballet needs: excellent soloists, fascinating choreography and beautiful costumes. The new choreography was created by Italian dancer and choreographer Renato Zanella, then ballet director of Vienna State Opera Ballet, and the elegant costumes were designed by Christian Lacroix, one of the leading Paris fashion designers – highly appropriate for a ballet partly set in the fashion section of the Four Seasons department store!

You might not realize it by looking at the cover of this DVD (that scene is from a dream sequence) but this ballet has some of the most beautiful costumes and scenery you will ever see in any ballet. [The Ballet Blog]
This celebrated Vienna State Opera production combines everything a romantic ballet needs: excellent soloists, fascinating choreography and beautiful costumes. [Presto Music]

The central ball-scene (Act II) provides an excuse for a string of virtuosic solo dance routines. This nicely sets off the comical portrayal of the ugly sisters who exhaust their partners. [MusicWeb International]
Some of the choreography is amazing and the costumes are worth seeing, especially the bridal fashion show! I wish that I could find another ballet as amusing and with such lively music. [Amazon]

Admission: $3.00 [free to Red Carpet members]

THURSDAY 13 FEBRUARY AT 6.30 P.M. THE TUNNEL: SABOTAGE – 3

Carriages: 8.30 p.m.

Awesome acting, awesome storyline. Waiting for Series 3! The love story is especially captivating. The whodunnit aspect puts you at the edge of your seat. [Amazon]

Admission: $3.00 [free to Film Carpet members]

FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY AT 6.30 P.M. WALDBÜHNE CONCERT : NACHT DER LIEBE

Carriages: 8.45 p.m.

Nacht der Liebe – ‘A Night of Love’ – is a Waldbühne Concert for Valentine’s Day!

The Berlin Philharmonic plays under the baton of Ion Marin, one of the most exciting conductors on today’s scene, and welcomes ‘America’s Beautiful Voice’, Grammy Award winning soprano Renée Fleming, who has a devoted international following wherever she appears.

The full programme is below and includes orchestral favourites as well as operatic love songs, perhaps the loveliest (and least known!) of which is Korngold’s ‘Marietta’s Song’.

Dvořák: Song to the Moon from ‘Rusalka’ ~ Elgar: Salut d’amour

Khachaturian: Adagio from ‘Spartacus’ ~ Puccini: ‘D’onde lieta uscì’ from ‘La bohème’

Richard Strauss: ‘Morgen Mittag um elf!’ from ‘Capriccio’ ~ Leoncavallo: Two arias from ‘La bohème’;

Wagner: ‘Rienzi’ – Overture ~ Puccini: ‘Tu che di gel sei cinta’ from ‘Turandot’

Korngold: Marietta’s Lied from ‘Die tote Stadt’ ~ Puccini: ‘O mio babbino caro’ from ‘Gianni Schicchi’

Richard Strauss: Zueignung ~ Tchaikovsky: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ – Fantasy Overture

Renée Fleming was the visiting star, but she did not overshadow the home orchestra whose Romeo and Juliet was their answer to her Capriccio extract which they had accompanied with such taste. With singer and orchestra on top form this night, when the weather behaved immaculately was as appropriate a celebration as any in the audience could have wished for. [MusicWeb International]
Wow!!! For me, it is hard to go wrong with a Berlin Philharmonic performance, but when you add Renee Fleming to the bill I lock the doors, turn off the phones, and settle in for what I expect to be two hours of bliss. And I was most certainly not disappointed. [Amazon]