Cape Town is assembling the moving parts for a full cultural day. Three-time Grammy Award-winning flautist, composer and producer Wouter Kellerman headlines the second instalment of Classics on Turf on Friday 30 October, and the event runs as a two-part delivery: guests start with golf on the fairways of Steenberg Golf Club, then move to the Norval Foundation for an evening concert where Kellerman performs with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Kutlwano Masote.
The format merges world-class sport, fine art and symphonic music into a single cultural journey. Its success rests on how smoothly those moving parts come together on the day. For Kellerman, the Norval Foundation venue is central to that experience, offering a setting where landscape, architecture and sound meet.
“I think Cape Town is the most beautiful city in the world, and the more I travel, the more that feeling is reinforced,” Kellerman said. “The Norval Foundation brings together art, architecture and the beauty of the surrounding landscape, and adding music to that setting makes it a wonderful place to spend an evening. I love the idea that everything around you becomes part of the experience.”
Meanwhile, the concert carries a personal milestone for the two principals on stage. Although Kellerman and Masote have shared a 15-year friendship, this performance marks the first time they will share a stage.
“Kutlwano and I have known each other for many years, and we share a deep appreciation and passion for music,” Kellerman said. “There’s a trust and an understanding that comes with that friendship, which is a lovely starting point for making music together. It feels very special to finally share the stage with him and the Cape Town Philharmonic, and I’m looking forward to bringing that shared enthusiasm to the concert.”
Masote echoed the excitement, noting that Kellerman’s music carries a rare sense of movement that speaks across borders while remaining proudly South African.
The programme blends the masterworks of Rossini and Chopin with a repertoire that flows across classical, world, European, new age and South African standards. Kellerman told Eyewitness News the range reflects simple curiosity rather than calculation.
“I’m very curious musically, so I’ve always been drawn to a wide variety of genres,” he said. “The thread running through it is a rooted sense of what is beautiful and a desire to share music that uplifts. For me, the narrative comes from the feeling behind the music and the journey we take the audience on. People are increasingly listening across genre boundaries, and I’ve always believed that music has the power to build bridges and connect people with different sensibilities and backgrounds.”
By contrast with the intimacy of a single evening, the Cape Town date sits within a career already tested on major stages. Kellerman has performed at Carnegie Hall and at the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, and his standing was further cemented when he received the Presidential Order of Ikhamanga in Gold.
“Receiving the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold was one of the most special moments of my life, being recognised by my own country means an enormous amount to me,” he said. “It speaks to something that has guided my journey: sharing the richness of South African music and culture with the world, while helping to create opportunities and build careers for South African music along the way.”
Vincent Zwelibanzi Mntambo, Patron of Classics on Turf, framed the choice of headliner in similar terms, saying Kellerman represents the very spirit of the event: proudly South African, internationally respected, and endlessly unifying.
Whether the second instalment delivers on that promise will be measured on Friday, when fairways, gallery halls and an orchestra stage must function as one seamless evening in the Mother City.