05/01/2026
The annual festival (February 12–15) showcases the country’s finest musicians in intimate chamber music and is proud to include three international soloists this year: Miclen LaiPang, one of the most exciting violinists on the world stage, making a highly anticipated return to the Winelands festival; Swiss-Austrian pianist Ariane Haering, who entranced CPO concertgoers earlier this year; and bandoneon specialist Lothar Hensel, who brings tango pizzazz to the festival. A local guest artist is the pianist José Dias.
As one can expect from the finest orchestra in the country, you will experience an array of exceptionally well-performed works. These range from the Piano Quartet in E-flat, K.493, by Mozart, with both LaiPang and Haering in the opening concert at the Dutch Reformed Church at 18:00 on Thursday, February 12, to the final concert on Sunday, February 15, at 15:00. Here you can hear the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 18, with almost the entire CPO in chamber mode, led by LaiPang.
The concert on Friday, February 14, at 18:00, Time to Tango, features Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango as well as Lothar Hensel in Five Bagatelles by Dvořák. Other highlights of the four-day festival include the sublime Schubert Octet, the Strauss Wind Serenade, Bach for Breakfast, the String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2, “Razumovsky,” by Beethoven, and the Brahms Clarinet Trio, Op. 114. Many of the CPO principals, including Féroll-Jon Davids (clarinet), Gabrielle von Dürckheim (flute), Lisa White (oboe), and concertmaster Philip Martens, perform as soloists in the concerts, as do the CPO’s two guest concertmasters, Farida Bacharova and Suzanne Martens.
In addition, as Peter Martens, the CPO’s artistic director of the festival and principal cellist, says: “This year also features a programme dedicated to the music of women composers, all of whom produced musical gems but were overlooked due to the gender inequality of the age in which they lived.” Included in this programme are Louise Farrenc and Clara Schumann.
Ticket sales are open for the Franschhoek Chamber Music Festival!
Tickets are R275 each.
