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Jeanne Louise Moolman

Naledi Sande : Arts Reporter

The inaugural Harare Chamber Music Festival will begin tomorrow and run until Saturday at The Venue in Avondale. HCMF offers a feast of top notch classical music and fills a classical music space in the capital,. It will also provide the opportunity to taste this enjoyable genre, for those not familiar with it with a line-up of eight concerts for the three days.Chamber music is an intimate style, which began as music written and performed by and for small groups of people.

The African and Asian chamber music traditions assumed a religious and spiritual role.

Whilst chamber music still takes place today performed by amateur musicians for their families and friends in private settings, most people these days can enjoy it in concert form and the upcoming festival provides the perfect opportunity.

Harare Chamber Music Festival is a brainchild of Zimbabwean musician, teacher and educationist, Colbert Mpofu.

An accomplished double bassist and musician, Mpofu has long dreamt of sharing the pleasures of chamber music with Zimbabweans in a festival dedicated to the genre.

The festival will become an annual event at the beginning of September, with outreach and other events in the interim.

“These performances promise to be world class and to transport us into the beautiful world of classical chamber music, uplifting us, and washing away our stress,” said HCMF Publicist Rosie Mitchelle.

The first festival focuses on the Western Chamber Music tradition and will feature various artistes such as internationally renowned pianist Jeanette Micklem, cellist Theo Bross from Germany, violist Jeanne-Louise Moolman and pianist Elna van der Merwe from South Africa.

Both Theo Bross and Jeanne-Louise Moolman recently performed at the Bulawayo Music Festival.

Other artistes include pre eminent violinist and conductor Andrew Sherwood from the UK, who grew up here and from France comes flautist Marie Braun and violinist Markus Held, both of whom originally hail from Switzerland.

Rosie said that the festival will also have performances from local artiste Jeanette Micklem.

“We are very excited to be hosting a number of international acts but proud of having Zimbabwe’s own internationally renowned concert pianist Jeanette Micklem join us during the festival,” said Rosie.

Jeanette Micklem has performed regularly at the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) and the Bulawayo Music Festival, and consistently championed the cause of classical music in Zimbabwe.

The Harare Chamber Music Festival is an initiative that seeks to enrich the Zimbabwean Arts scene with an international stage of creative musical art form and was founded in 2015 through a Trust Deed.

The Founding Trustees of the HCMF are Colbert Mpofu (Festival Founder and Director), Dr Solomon Guramatunhu (specialist surgeon) and Plaxedes Dzangare (advertising and media practitioner).

Tickets for the festival can be purchased at The Venue or online at Web Tickets Zimbabwe or bought on the door before each show.