Summer Concerts
Kirstenbosch

A tree lined lane leading to the concert area in Kirstenbosch

Its summer in Cape Town and the season is slowly working its way towards autumn. The days are still long, and the evenings warm and balmy . It's the nicest time of the year to visit Cape Town.

From the 30th November through to the 4th of April Kirstenbosch hosts a concert in its gardens every Sunday evening. These concerts are very popular judging by the numbers of people who attend.

On Sunday about 5000 people turned up to listen to the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra who played a number of arrangements around the theme of flowers. Tunes such as “ Tulips in Amsterdam, I'm getting married in the morning, Eidelweiss” and many more were played by the orchestra. Richard Cocks the conductor for the evening was full of fun and involved the audience in many of the tunes. He sang a solo with the orchestra and then got the audience to sing the refrain of Daisy Daisy. Two lucky people who were celebrating their birthdays had the orchestra play Happy Birthday and the audience sing for them. What a lovely way to celebrate your birthday especially when it is unexpected.

The Otter Pool in the Kirstenbosch gardens

The concerts take place on the lawns near the southern end of the gardens. The concert area is fenced off and the lawns slope down to the stage which is at the northerly side of the lawns and form an amphitheatre. To your left as you face the stage is the Table Mountain range of mountains with their high peaks hanging over the concert area. As the sun begins to set it disappears behind the mountains and casts long shadows over the gardens. This is the best time of the day to be in the gardens as it starts to cool down. All the lovely scented plants seem to release their scents and these coming wafting across the gardens as the sun sets.

To really enjoy the evening everyone attending the concerts should bring a picnic basket along. It's lovely to sit and have a snack and a glass of wine while waiting for the concert to begin.

Kirstenbosch have a no litter policy in the gardens and they have very few bins for litter. Visitors are requested to remove their litter themselves and what is fantastic is that they DO!

The concert area is a non smoking so the air is lovely and untainted for concert goers. Parking although not a major problem can be a bit scarce necessitating concert goers to have to walk a few kilometres to get into the gardens. At that time of the evening its a lovely walk under some tall oak trees so no one minds.

The gates for the concerts open at 3.00 o'clock so if you get there early you can book your spot on the lawns and then take a leisurely stroll around the garden before the concert begins. All concerts are an hour in duration although the artists get there an hour or two before the time to set up their equipment. Early concert goers might even be lucky to be entertained by the artists who sometimes get in a bit of practice before the concert starts. All in all its a lovely way to spend the end of your weekend relaxing and being entertained at the same time.

Next time you are in Cape Town in summer join us at Kirstenbosch. You will be glad you did!

Summer Concerts Kirstenbosch

Summer Concerts
Kirstenbosch