The Viva Musica Ensemble present their first concert of the year on April 1 at 3pm in the Nahoon Methodist Church, Kennington Road, conducted by Joy Marshall.
The audience can look forward to an afternoon of well-loved classics, including music from My Fair Lady and West Side Story.
Guests artists are Kwanele Ginqqi, Elise Mattheus and Lynette Nel.
Ginqqi is an accomplished baritone who started singing at age eight.
He has conducted choirs at WSU and Buffalo City College. Trained in Cape Town and the UK, he has achieved certificates in many competitions.
He placed second in 2021 and 2022 in the Eastern Cape Choral and Music Association competitions.
He has also had musical roles with the Gauteng Opera Company and appeared as guest artist in various shows around East London.
Mattheus, who sings soprano, was born in East London, where she is well-known. She started singing at the age of nine and developed into an operatic soprano.
She has won many golds at local eisteddfods as well as two A++ awards in Makhanda.
She was also a semifinalist in the AKTV Crescendo competition in 1995.
Mattheus frequently sings at church functions, weddings and shows and has several times been a guest artist for the EL Classical Players.
Her love for musicals and light opera has made her a firm favourite amongst theatre goers.
She has featured in Mr Sandman, Liewe Heksie and Jack and the Beanstalk at the Guild Theatre.
Mattheus gives freely of her time and is thankful for her God-given talents.
Nel has been entertaining East Londoners for many years, having accompanied John Fletcher at the Guild in Best of the West End and among others, Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
She is the keyboardist in a wedding trio “Music from the Heart” and is also a part time music teacher.
She has been the choir mistress for the Eldorado Choir for the past four years.
A collection will be taken for Breath of Life, a charity which aids women in crisis pregnancies and the destinies of the unborn. They also care for several abandoned, neglected and abused babies.
Please come along and support this worthy cause. Entrance is free, and car guards will be present. For further info call Wendy on 082-497-5722.
