Two of the points I made about the JPO were that it needs to perform on more suitable days (like the weekend) and that it needs to perform more accessible pieces to attract new audiences. The Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Pretoria seems to have addressed both of these points - they perform on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, and while their programme for the season is varied - it certainly features some very accessible pieces; such as the performance this past weekend.
The programme featured a variety of orchestral (and some choral) pieces from a variety of movies - Lord of the Rings, Titanic, Crimson Tide, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Prince of Egypt and most of the Star Wars Symphony and finishing off with a wonderful Clarinet (or was it an Oboe?) piece from the little known "Made in Heaven". It was also a nice touch to include projection of movie excerpts during the performance - although the excerpts were not directly aligned to the music itself.
The choral performance was unfortunately weak - the voices just didn't project well enough (and it was particularly noticeable with the theme song from Prince of Egypt). Other than that, it was a wonderful concept and a great performance.
The orchestra does not perform too many times; but they are certainly worthwhile to keep track off and support.
