CAPE TOWN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) is the oldest and foremost orchestra in Africa, established in 1914 by the Cape Town City Council.
It has a national and international reputation for excellence thanks to the high quality of its performances and artists which include pianists such as Paul Lewis, violinists such as Joshua Bell and singers such as Pretty Yende and the late Johan Botha.
Versatile, multifunctional and extremely busy with more than 130 concerts a year, the CPO accompanies Cape Town Opera and Cape Town City Ballet and also performs in musicals, pops, rock, community collaborations and family concerts.
As part of its mission, the CPO presents concerts tailored for schoolchildren and provides a platform to community musicians, many playing for the first time with a symphony orchestra.
The orchestra’s vast and lauded youth education and development programme includes two acclaimed youth orchestras, two junior ensembles, a music academy and the grassroots training project, Masidlale, which reaches youngsters from townships and further afield.
