Helderberg Village Music Society is holding a concert on Sunday September 15, in Telani Terrace, at 4pm, performed by Playing with Fire, featuring Balkan, Gypsy and Klezmer Music.
The lead singer, Caely-Jo Levy, presents an afternoon of Yiddish, Balkan and Gypsy songs, together with clarinetist Matthew Reid and pianist Robin Cohen.
They will have you clapping and stomping along- maybe even dancing in the aisles- with their infectious tunes from Eastern Europe.
Matthew Reid studied clarinet performance at the University of Cape Town, the Royal College of Music in London, and the National Centre for Orchestral Studies at Goldsmiths College in Greenwich.
He won the SASOL Music Prize and the Oude Meester Wind Prize in 1986 and played in the CAPAB orchestra for two years. He was the musical director for Cape Town’s annual Yiddish Song Festival for 11 years, and founded Playing with Fire in 2000.
He was involved in Aviva Pelham’s Santa’s Story which has given performances in South Africa, Germany, Finland and England, and New York.
He is also the organiser of the Monthly concerts at Christ Church in Constantia in Cape Town, where the aim is to provide a platform for talented South African soloists, choirs and ensembles of a high standard.
Robin Cohen studied music at UCT and then went to Trinity College of Music, his teachers included Francois Du Toit and Martino Tirimo. He performed at numerous venues in London during the time that he studied there.
Caely-Jo Levy is an actress, dancer, choreographer and vocalist. She is also a registered Western Cape Tour Guide.
She connected with her Yiddish roots and discovered a passion for the language when she was invited to be a soloist in the Yiddish Song Festival, which enjoyed enormous popularity at the Baxter theatre where it ran for 10 consecutive years.
Tickets cost R130, pre-paid via Quicket. For more information, contact Judy de Morney at 021 855 8311.
