DA capo quartet

Based in Cape Town

Typical Corporate performance: 1 X 60 min set

Download sample programme here

This sassy and fabulous all-female vocal group proves that Opera can be enjoyed by everyone! Da Capo performs as a 4-piece group consiting of 3 voices with stunning piano / keyboard backing, their enormously varied repertoire ranging from Opera, Broadway musicals, to good old Jazz standards from the years gone by. With their versatlity, vocal prowess and enviable stage experience, these ladies present classy opera-cabaret at its very best.

The ladies that make up Da Capo are truly unique: having met for the first time in a 1996 production of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, they worked together again in South Africa's acclaimed 2004 touring production of Phantom of the Opera. During this time the idea for Da Capo was born: a group which would showcase a wide repertoire ranging from Opera to musicals, light Classics to Jazz, with the emphasis on remaining accessible and entertaining to a wide audience demographic.

THE STYLE
Da Capo performs in close 3-part harmony, with the arrangements showcasing each singer's very unique vocal attributes. The group's style is a distinctive blend of straight operatic singing, coupled with their very own blend of Jazz and musical theatre-style singing. Rika Vermeulen as pianist / arranger completes the quartet's line-up with her spontaneous and responsive playing.

THE REPERTOIRE
Repertoire can be tailored to a diverse range of functions and audiences. The standard programme embraces operatic showstoppers, musical favourites, as well as local Afrikaans jewels and traditional African songs. Peforming in five different languages, the rich and varied styles and programme content ensure that Da Capo are already a hit at corporate functions, weddings and concerts / recitals.


THE MEMBERS

Hanlee Louw Coloratura Soprano
Born in Cape Town and growing up in Malmesbury, Hanlee studied singing with eminent pedagogue Nellie du Toit until 1997.  Making her debut as Blöndchen in Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Roodepoort City Opera in Bloemfontein, she has also sang Handel’s Messiah with the Cape Town Opera Company Orchestra, as well as a highly acclaimed Adele in Strauss's Die Fledermaus at Cape Town Opera House. In 1994 she sang the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Zauberflöte at the Oude Libertas Amphiteatre and performed it again to great acclaim in 1995 at the Cape Town Opera House, and at the Windhoek National Theatre in 1996. Other roles include Mistress Ford in Nicolai's Merry Wives of Windsor and Adele in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. In 1997 Hanlee moved to Venice, Italy, where she furthered her opera career and performed the roles of Woglinde in Wagner's Das Rheingold, Ghiandaia in Janacek's Volpe Astuta, Musetta in La Boheme and Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Sivilgia. In 2004 Hanlee returned to South Africa to join the cast of the Phantom of the Opera which toured South Afric and the Far East.

Pauline du Plessis Light Lyric Soprano
Pauline made her professional début in 1993, singing the role of Marcellina in Fidelio for Roodepoort City Opera. She studied under Eric Muller at the Pretoria Technikon Opera School, where she was awarded a number or prestigious prizes. Pauline has been a finalist in many competitions, as well as performing a variety of roles both locally and abroad. Highlights in her career inlude the roles of Musetta in La Boheme, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Gilda in Rigoletto, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Norina in Don Pasquale and Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Internationally she appeared in the roles of Cendrillon and Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann for Central Festival Opera in London and Northampton, as well as Gilda in Rigoletto at Opera Holland Park in London. She toured with Broomhill Opera performing The Mystery Plays and sang Michaela in Carmen, as well as The Beggars Opera for the past two years in Turkey, Perth, England, Dublin, Charleston South Carolina, and New Haven Connecticut USA. In 2004 Pauline also joined the cast of Phantom of the Opera and toured with the company from Cape Town and Pretoria to the Far East.

Elizabeth Frandsen Mezzo-Soprano
Elizabeth was born in Cape Town but completed her schooling in Johannesburg, where she matriculated at the National School of the Arts.  She then completed the Diploma in Opera at the University of the Witwatersrand, with vocal training by the late Joyce Barker and then Emma Renzi. Making her professional debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in Windhoek in 1996, she was accepted for further study at the International Opera Studio in Zürich Switzerland in 1998, where she was a student for two years. Elizabeth's extensive experience includes master classes with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, as well as the role of Schwartzhilde in the Swiss premiere of Pfizner’s Die Rose von Liebesgarten (with Franz Welser-Most) and Madame Cortese in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims for the Opernhaus, Zurich. Other roles include Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi in La Boheme and Carolina in Matrimonio Segreto. She has performed as a soloist in several oratorios, including Handel’s Messiah (as well as the Southern African Messiah), the settings of Stabat Mater by Rossini, Dvorak, Vivaldi and Pergolesi, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Mozart’s Requiem  and the Vivaldi Gloria. In recent years she has demonstrated her versatility by singing in musicals: as Madame Giry in The Phantom of the Opera, as Parthy in Cape Town Opera’s production of Showboat that toured to Nuremberg and Oslo and as Mrs. Fraser in Pieter Toerien’s production of Stepping Out.

Rika Vermeulen Piano
Rika majored in Piano at the Pretoria Technikon, specializing in solo performance and accompaniment. She twice performed as soloist with the Technikon Symphony Orchestra and gained extensive experience as accompanist for the Drama Faculty on completion of her studies. She later worked as pianist for the State Theatre Ballet Co., dance Co. and Ballet School and also composed the music for an original ballet ("RUSH" 1995 ), choreographed by Timothy le Roux, which was performed by the State Theatre Dance Co. in 1996. During this time Rika was also employed as pianist by the Royal Academy of Dance and the Cecchetti Society in winter/summer schools and yearly examinations. In 1988 Rika started working with Danièle Pascal, touring nationally, and in 1989 she became accompanist to Nataniël, in an association which lasted ten years. During these years she was involved in many stage productions (country wide) and music video productions with Nataniël. They remain close friends, and he is godfather to Rika’s two children. Rika relocated to the Western Cape in 2000, and in 2001 she resumed her working relationship with Ms. Pascal, producing an album of French music called ‘Parisette’ for Ms. Pascal during December 2006, released in 2007. Rika is currently a part-time lecturer at the Drama Faculty of the University of Stellenbosch. In 2003 she started working as accompanist to opera & jazz singer Elizabeth Frandsen, and in 2006 they recorded two demo CD's containing selections of opera arias and jazz classics.

Recent bookings with Five Seasons Music

• Franschhoek Country House and Villas