Candlelight Concerts - Hans Zimmer

⭐⭐

The Star Theatre

20 October 2024

The general feeling after the show...oy vey.

This experience was wholly underwhelming. For the ticket prices, I expected two acts, fully professional musicians, more than 4 of them, and a set of candles to go home with.

The Star is a lovely venue. I have many fond memories of amazing shows in this theatre, so I had high hopes when I saw Classics by Candlelight. The acoustics, however, are not so much suited for live classical music. They rely on the wow factor of the 4000 candles on stage to forgive the averageness of everything else.

The evening's content was a tribute to Hans Zimmer, long a revered film score god and someone I fangirled about when I saw his credits in a movie. All that happens when you play 14 Hans Zimmer pieces back-to-back, is you realise how much of a recipe he uses. It's so same-y. And after the fifth high-pitched, abrupt dramatic ending, you kind of know what's coming next.

The musicians, a string quartet calling themselves Selene, were just too wet behind the ears to bring much pizazz to the party. The cellist, and acting MC, brought the most professional air to the quartet, and an endearing show of his personality as he explained what each piece of music was.

The violins and viola - couldn't tell you what they looked like if I tried. Overall the sound was a little shrill, and the violin's pitch was not amazing. It was a little uncomfortable to listen too a lot of the time.

Overall, this is a European music experience that doesn't land in South Africa. Their pre-show explanation about "bringing classical music to more people" couldn't miss the mark more if a blind man aimed an arrow in the dark. This is as elitist as a Yo-Yo Ma concert in Kirstenbosch, granting access only to those who have money for overpriced tickets, picnics and Ubers.

For the 325 sold-out seats, at an average of R800 per ticket (go, do the math), this was a blatant robbery on the part of the producers. Even upon entry at the box office, no ticket, no playbill, no little flyer with information at all - just a green sticker stuck to my hand like a junior school bazaar entry. Everything about the pre-show experience was a red flag for what was about to unfold on stage.

The longer I think about this evening out, the more disappointed I become, and the more I want to warn guests of the upcoming shows, and what they're in for. If you're after classical music in Cape Town, you don't need to look very hard, it's everywhere.