In 1998, the then National Symphony Orchestra of South African and Rand Merchant Bank produced the first ever Starlight Classics Concert at the Country Club Johannesburg. Classics under the stars was the tagline, and RMB guests and members of the club were invited to an evening of light classical entertainment. Under the Baton of Richard Cock, the NSO of SA played a varied programme of light familiar classics, while Richard Cock in his distinctive style, spelled out a mixed narrative of classical music information, jokes with an underlying theme of hope and nation building.
Jam Events had the pleasure of being a part of this small beginning, some of us wielding a tiny new baby – just three weeks old – as we built a stage, added lights, a bit of sound, threw in an orchestra and created an evening of magical music.
A year later, and the show was expanded to include a couple of opera singers. And a year later, RMB decided to replicate the concept in CT with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra at the gorgeous Vergelegen Wine Estate.
So began the journey, from these humble beginnings to a show that has been broadcast on numerous occasions, and has hosted international stars Joshua Bell and Katherine Jenkins, not to mention numerous South African stars, Pretty Yende, Lira, Vusi Mahlasela, Siyabonga Maqungo and a plethora of young local artists, captured on their rise to meteoric fame in the music world, to perform on the Starlight Stage.
📷In 2004 and 2005 RMB hosted the event in December at the Kurland Polo fields just outside Plettenburg bay. A beautiful venue and event, but the weather risk, always a factor in an outdoor concert, was deem just too high a risk to continue this event annually. That been said, the concerts in Johannesburg and in Cape Town continued, year in and year out, the show grew beyond all expectations, and the demand from the audience grew to exceed the supply of the show.
As we enter the 2020’s, we are preparing yet again for a performance of RMB’s Starlight Classics on the Main Lawn at the Vergelegen Wine Estate. One of us is now the parent of a 21-year-old, who has spent her entire life watching the Jam Events team manage Starlight after Starlight after Starlight. In our lives Starlight has become a verb, we are often “Starlighting”.
The longevity of this production speaks volumes for the creative economy, and how financial institutions need to promote and protect this precious economy. It has been said that oil was the primary fuel of the 20th Century economy, and creativity will be the fuel for the 21st. Corporate support to promote and protect creativity will be crucial to the success of this 21st century. This may mean that we need to rethink the way education is delivered, cities are planned, governments are organised and how people interact with their communities. Thinking about creativity and what exactly is meant by the creative economy could not be more important to the world right now.