Spier Wine Farm

Situated outside Stellenbosch on the banks of the Eerste River. Also often referred to simply as Spier.

Purchased by Richard (Dick) Enthoven (1937 – 2 December 2022) in 1993. Enthoven developed the property, and built a hotel and amphitheatre on the farm, effectively creating a centre for the arts. Spier Wine Farm subsequently hosted several festivals on the farm.

The Amphitheatre

Built in 1993 and it opened in 1996 for its first summer festival. The amphitheatre can seat 3 565 people and the stage is covered and exceedingly well equipped.

The Spier Summer Festival

An annual festival sponsored by the Spier Arts Trust. Founded in 1997. Also called the Spier Summer Arts Festival. (2003) Hansel & Gretel by Janice Honeyman.

Each year Spier hosts a summer festival of about 5 months, running from end November to mid April the following year. The season consists of an array of musical entertainments, plays, operas, and so on.

Performances have included Ubu and the Truth Commission (Jane Taylor and William Kentridge, 1997), La Traviata (2000), Kentridge's Confessions of Zeno (2002).

Operas presented by Spier have included:

1998: Tosca and I Pagliacci

2006: Princess Magogo

2007: macbEth: The Opera

Sources

Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.

'Citation: Richard Enthoven', https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/students/graduations/documents/Citation_RichardEnthoven.pdf

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