It was an evening where music, theatre, art and history met under one roof as Beloved offered audiences an intimate glimpse of the work before its journey to Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presented by Song & Dance Work, the special preview took place on Friday, 28 August, at Henley on Klip, creating an atmosphere that was as intimate as it was memorable. With the warm surroundings, live performance and an audience filled with artists, creatives and cultural thinkers, the evening felt less like an ordinary show and more like being invited into the creative world behind an international production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inspired by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison\u2019s celebrated novel Beloved, the work brings together music and performance to explore themes of memory, identity, pain, survival and freedom. The production is being taken to the Via Nova Kunstfest Corvey in Germany, where the Beloved Concert 2026 will be presented as part of a programme connecting literature, music and theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The production is led by Nhlanhla Mahlangu, with percussionist and composer Tlale Makhene, and is conceived as a meeting point between Morrison\u2019s powerful literary world and South African histories and experiences. According to the festival, the work draws connections between the history of slavery explored in Morrison\u2019s novel and South Africa\u2019s own histories of apartheid, colonialism and dispossession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on Friday night, it was not only the performers who made the evening special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the audience were some of South Africa\u2019s most recognisable creative voices, including acclaimed filmmaker Angus Gibson and internationally renowned artist William Kentridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson is one of South Africa\u2019s leading documentary filmmakers and a founding member of the Free Filmmakers co-operative. His extensive television and film work includes Yizo Yizo, Heartlines and Soweto, a History, while his filmmaking career has also included the Oscar-nominated Mandela, Son of Africa, Father of a Nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kentridge, meanwhile, is internationally celebrated for his drawings, prints, animation and theatre work. His distinctive animated films are often created through a process of drawing, erasing, changing and filming repeatedly, allowing traces of previous images to remain visible. His work has become one of the most recognisable artistic contributions to South Africa\u2019s contemporary visual culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having figures of this calibre in the audience added another layer to an already special evening. It was a reminder that cultural events do more than entertain \u2014 they create spaces where artists, academics, audiences and creative industries can meet, exchange ideas and witness new work taking shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
University of Pretoria lecturer Zakhele Nkosi was also among those who shared insights during the evening, highlighting the importance of creating and supporting spaces where artistic work can be experienced, discussed and connected with wider society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And perhaps that was one of the most beautiful things about the preview: it did not feel distant or overly formal. It felt intimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The audience was close to the work, close to the performers and close to the creative conversation. There was a sense that those in the room were not simply watching a production but witnessing a piece of South African creative work preparing to enter an international space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The German presentation will form part of the Via Nova Kunstfest Corvey, with the official programme describing Beloved Concert 2026 as a new work that brings together Mahlangu and Makhene with vocalists and musicians from Song and Dance Work. The production is scheduled for 4 September 2026 at Schloss Corvey in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those who experienced Friday night’s preview, however, Germany was still a little way away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For one evening, the focus was simply on the music, the stories, the atmosphere and the people gathered together to witness something being born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And perhaps that is what makes Beloved so intriguing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not simply a story being taken from one country to another. It is a conversation between histories, cultures, and artistic forms: between literature and music, memory and movement, pain and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the production prepares to leave South African soil for Germany, Friday night’s intimate preview offered audiences a chance to say goodbye to the work before its next chapter begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From Henley on Klip to Corvey, Beloved is carrying more than music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is carrying memory, voice and freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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