New art and music spaces at the Westcliff
Johannesburg hotel provides a venue for culture in the city
It seems the Westcliff is determined to draw us in. The iconic hotel with the best view in the city is lowering the drawbridge and inviting in local residents, first with its recently relaunched restaurant Flames, a casual eatery slinging a variety of delicious fondues, and now with a refurbished space and a curated calendar of events to showcase local and international artistic talent. The project, called Art on the Hill, will be a rotating offering bringing the local community a new place to experience the arts.
The site will be a concert venue and also house exhibitions. Concerts will be held in the ballroom, overlooking the lush gardens, with the Johannesburg skyline in the distance. Smaller, more intimate events, like art talks, will be held above Flames, in the bay-windowed space which caps the hotel, aptly named Pre View.
On this week, on Sunday June 10, is Vuma Levin, a South African jazz guitarist whose music reflects his experiences growing up in the post-apartheid era; an attempt to interrogate concepts of identity, nation, culture and power.
WATCH | A Necessary Pain by Vuma Levin:
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On June 24, there is a collaboration between Christopher Duigan, the venerated local pianist, and Spanish saxophone player David Salleras. Salleras’s style is a blend of improvisation, classical, contemporary and traditional Spanish themes.
Art on the Hill will go live in first week of July. In the meantime, book tickets for Levin and Duigan and Salleras at fourseasonsevents.co.za.