Pro Cantare Choir joins Louw for 2013 opera season

Aria! Opera for Everyone is a production where Louw sings popular as well as lesser-known opera arias with piano accompaniment. "The aim of the concert is to give the opera connoisseur something that is not often heard on South African stages whilst at the same time introducing new-comers to opera with well-known tunes such as Nessun Dorma and E lucevan le stelle," Louw explains.

A dying art form

For this reason, Louw will be relying on radio veteran and opera connoisseur, Andre Liebenberg, to enthral the audience with interesting facts about opera and each aria that will be performed. "This way I will hopefully realise my goal of educating South African audience about opera in order to support the art form going into the future," states Louw. "Opera is a dying art form in South Africa and through my concert series, which I launched in 2010, I hope to revive and build new audiences so that the excellent voices we have in our beautiful country would be able to work here and not all leave for Europe and America."

Other singers that will join Louw on stage for the 2013 series of concerts are soprano Hanli Stapela, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Lombard and baritone Thabang Senekal, all accompanied on piano by Eugene Joubert. "I have worked with members of the chorus on a regular basis since 2003 and look forward to once again share the stage with them," says Louw.

The concert dates for 2013 are 8 February, 19 April, 7 June, 26 July, 4 October and 6 December. All shows are on Friday evenings and start at 8pm.