Howard Audio

The South African bush is beautiful - and every now and then, work takes you somewhere truly special.

This weekend we had the chance to perform in the Letsitele bush as part of the Makulu Bush Concert for The Mahela Group . Sharing that setting with a top-class group of musicians and a great technical team was a real joy - and we were made to feel so welcome from start to finish.

Big thanks to everyone who was part of it, and to the crew behind the scenes for making it all happen.

Musicians: Rixi Roman, Floors Oosthuizen , David Klassen, Matthys Maree, Brendan Ross, Bez Roberts - and myself.

For the last year and a half I’ve been sitting on something I couldn’t speak about properly, for obvious reasons.

Now that it’s been announced: there’s a new international feature film in the works called 'The Road Home', directed by Oscar-winning Bill Condon, with a screenplay by Michael Bronner.

The story is set in the Graceland era - the period around Paul Simon’s work in South Africa, and the cultural and political complexity of that time.

The cast includes Cynthia Erivo, Guy Pearce, and Thabo Rametsi, who will be portraying Hugh Masekela.

My role has been very personal. I’ve been working closely with Thabo - we’ve already done a number of trumpet sessions together - focusing on the physical truth of how Hugh actually played: how he held the instrument, how he approached phrasing, what felt natural in his hands. I’ll also be on set, helping with those details as we go.

The other part of this is the music. Under the production of legends Hilton Rosenthal and Bobby Summerfield, we’ll be recording original material for the film at our studios.

Hugh was a friend. I travelled the world with him. So this isn’t “work” in the usual sense - it comes with responsibility. The aim is simple: do it well, and treat his legacy with the care it deserves.

More to share when I can.

Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/theroadhomearticle

Mandisi Dyantyis’ Symphonic Celebration with The Egoli Symphonic Orchestra is selling out quickly - and we're really looking forward to sharing the stage with Mandisi once again.

It’s been a big inaugural year for our orchestra and one of the things I’ve enjoyed most has been seeing just how wide the audiences have been across the work we’ve presented - from "Red Bull Symphonic feat. Kelvin Momo” to “Jonathan Roxmouth - My Favourite Broadway” and now this (with many corporate events in the diary) we can’t wait to see what the future holds for us!

It’s exactly what excited us about starting the Egoli Symphonic Orchestra in the first place - forming an orchestra that could move between musical worlds and challenge what an orchestra can be - always keeping the musical standard high.

If you’d like to come and experience Mandisi’s Symphonic Celebration at The Teatro, book soon before it’s too late.

Another very special win at the Naledi Theatre Awards 👇

Diary of a Wimpy Kid took home the award for Best Production for Children and Young Audiences and we couldn’t be prouder of our two older kids, Tabatha and Joshua, who were cast in the show.

Tabatha was also Dance Captain, a role she a role she stepped into with so much maturity. They both had the best time, learned so much, and came home buzzing after every performance.

A big shoutout as well to Vicky Friedman and Daphne Kuhn for creating such a positive, encouraging space for the kids at Theatre on the Square, Sandton. That kind of environment makes all the difference.

Proud parents, full hearts. Well done everyone!