A huge thanks to all for a wonderful tribute to Nelson Mandela with CTO’s internationally acclaimed Mandela Trilogy, all of which was made possible with generous support from Naspers, The Western Cape Government Department of Arts and Culture and Artscape. We also thank Simonsig wines for supplying the sparkling wine, as well as Compagniesdrift and Jordan wines for their continued support.
We partnered with Sisters Incorporated who sold Mandela Trilogy merchandise at both performances and raised a whopping R10,000. Delene Roberts, Sisters Incorporated manager, wrote, ‘Heartfelt thanks to Wendy Ackerman who nominated us to Lesley Liddle and Cape Town Opera as the organisation of her choice to receive the gift of love by donating all the merchandise for the Mandela Trilogy to our organisation and encouraging us to sell it at the event for two nights. We raised a substantial amount, so we can only humbly say THANK YOU!’
To follow through on Madiba’s legacy, our special guests on the 17th of July were a group of vendors from The Big Issue and youth of the 9 Miles Project. ‘The vendors could not stop talking about the Opera and what a great experience it was. They have never attended an opera and always thought it was a boring event, but after that night their opinion of opera changed. They really enjoyed themselves and thank you from the bottom of their hearts for inviting them.’ said Nicky Asher-Pedro, Auxilliary Social Worker at The Big Issue.