Galaxy of musicians for Bulawayo Music Festival

The Eighth Bulawayo Music Festival, set to run from May 23 to May 27, has been billed as perhaps the most ambitious project to  date. More musicians will be coming to the festival than ever before from beyond Zimbabwe's borders √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨" 21 in all √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨" and more than 800 schoolchildren will also be involved in various performances, in addition to other local musicians.

The event will be taking place at the Zimbabwe Academy of Music, adjacent to the ZITF Grounds, and is being organised by Michael Bullivant, who has staged these biannual classical festivals since 1990.

Visiting artistes this year include newcomers as well as familiar faces.

These are Amici String Quartet, Juliette Bausor (flute), Sharon de Kock (violin), Coady Green (piano), Leigh Harrold (piano), Leslie Howard (piano), the Junior Odeion String Quartet, Mary King (mezzo-soprano/conductor), Njabulo Madlala (baritone), Piet Moolman (conductor), Alenka Ponjavic (soprano), Richard Sisson (piano, composer, conductor), Christopher Smith (piano), Morgan Szymanski (guitar) and Petroc Trelawny (narrator, interviewer).

Said Mr Bullivant: "There will be a great wealth of music on offer. As well as over a dozen classical concerts, there will be plenty of other music to enjoy including pop and gospel concerts (in which some of the visitors will take part), jazz from Prince Edward School in Harare, the Hellenic School Orchestra from Harare and a special Africa Day Celebration.

Three of the major highlights will include Carl Orff's thrilling Carmina Burana with international soloists, a choir of 150 plus children's chorus, two pianos and eight percussionists.

They will also be a first performance of a major commission from Richard Sisson, "The Song of the Carnivores", involving 500 children from 10 schools in both eastern and western suburbs as well as the Hellenic School Orchestra, massed flutes, other instrumentalists and many of the professional musicians.

A final orchestral concert that will include concertos by CPE Bach (flute), Haydn (cello) and Mozart (piano) plus the Carnival of the Animals will also be on show.

There will also be a concert devoted to music by Schubert including the "Death and the Maiden Quartet" and works for piano, flute and violin, and another devoted to Mendelssohn ending with his miraculous Octet.

An opening gala will include including popular operatic excerpts, a celebration of Debussy.

They will also be piano quintets by Dohnanyi, Fibich, Schumann and Shostakovich, Liszt's Sonata played and introduced by Leslie Howard, a concert of Australian music and the usual mixture of the familiar (Beethoven's Moonlight and Pathétique Sonatas, Dvorak's "Slavonic Dances" and American Quartet).

Less familiar (Reger's Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Etudes by Alkan and Rubinstein).

One rather different event will be silent films with live accompaniment, including Laurel and Hardy's "Big Business" with Leslie Howard as pianist.

There is a pre-festival dinner on Tuesday May 22 at the Bulawayo Club, which will be a substantial finger supper interspersed with music from several of the musicians ending with a sing-along led by Leslie Howard.

The Bulawayo Music Festival has been supported by NMB Bank, Sandvik Mining and Construction, as well as the Australian Embassy, Beit Trust, British Friends of the Zimbabwe Academy of Music, British Council, Alliance Française de Bulawayo and local supporters.

Booking is open at the Academy in Bulawayo, with season tickets costing US$75.