ALBUM 4: Christmas with Hanneli Rupert
Hanneli is accompanied by the Cape Town Sinfonietta with Barry Smith, the Stellenbosch Camerata conducted by Acáma Fick, the St George’s Singers, with Zorada Temmingh and Grant Basler at the organ.
Music is as much a part of Christmas as is the giving of gifts. Without ‘O Come, all ye faithful’, ‘Hark, the herald angels sing’ and ‘Once in royal David’s city’, Christmas music would lack part of its main ingredients.
So, in this compilation of some of the most popular and best-loved music of the magical season of Christmas, a number of Hanneli’s friends and colleagues have joined together to weave a rich tapestry of music, love and goodwill.
Musicians from Cape Town and Stellenbosch sing and play together, literally in joyful harmony – choral, orchestral and instrumental. Performers include: Acama Fick, the choir conductor who gave Hanneli her first solo part in her final school year; members of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra with whom Hanneli has sung the great works of Brahms and Mahler; the St George’s Singers with whom Hanneli has sung the great sacred works of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart.
Cape Town composers and arrangers, organists, instrumentalists, choral directors and conductors all combine their talents in this very special South African celebration of Christmas, the season that speaks of peace and goodwill to all humankind.
– Barry Smith