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 Spier 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 (1996 - 2007)

Also called the Spier Summer Arts Festival. An annual festival sponsored by the Spier Arts Trust. Founded in 1996.

The annual Spier Performance Arts Festival that lasted more than a decade was designed to deliver innovation and excellence in the performing arts; to showcase, promote and develop emerging South African artists; to provide opportunities for collaboration with Pan-African artists; and to build new audiences for performance art forms.

Each year Spier hosted 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 included:

1997: Ubu and the Truth Commission (Jane Taylor and William Kentridge)

2000: La Traviata

2002: Kentridge's Confessions of Zeno

2003: Hänsel und Gretel directed by Janice Honeyman

Operas produced and presented by Spier included:

1998: Tosca and I Pagliacci

2006: Princess Magogo

2007: macbEth: The Opera

The Spier Arts Trust

The Spier Arts Trust supports the contribution of art to the South African economy through the administration of an ecosystem of career development opportunities for fine artists. At the heart of the programme has been the Spier Arts Academy, which offered a three-year full time apprenticeship in mosaic and ceramic applied arts. The Creative Block programme provides a fun platform of experimentation with regular income potential to professional fine artists.

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 Unpublished PhD thesis.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

Return to

Return to South African Theatre Venues, Companies, Societies, etc

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page