Design
Salone Internazionale del Mobile
The 2026 Salone del Mobile is an evergreen star of the international design calendar. Set up in 1961, the trade fair boasts a wide range of furniture and décor distinguished by their functional, technological and material innovation, ingenuity and vision.
Dates: April 21-26
Venue: Rho Fiera fairgrounds, Milan
Tickets: From €15
salonemilano.it/en/exhibitions/salone-internazionale-del-mobile
Art
Art Paris
The 28th edition of the celebrated Art Paris fair takes place in the recently renovated Grand Palais, a gem of Belle Époque architecture. About 165 French and international galleries will take part this year, under the themes “Babel — Art and Language in France” and “Reparation”.
Dates: April 9-12
Venue: Grand Palais, Paris
Tickets: From €30
Matisse. 1941-1954
While you’re at the Grand Palais, pop in to see Matisse. 1941-1954, an exhibition that’s garnered rave reviews for the light it sheds on the final years of Henri Matisse’s career through more than 300 works, consisting of paintings, drawings, cut-out gouaches, illustrated books, textiles and stained glass.
Dates: Until July 26
Venue: Grand Palais, Paris
Tickets: From €24
grandpalais.fr/en/program/matisse-1941-1954
Don’t miss:
- Atta Kwami’s “Dynamic Equilibrium” solo exhibition at Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, until April 11
- Sanell Aggenbach’s solo show “Neonature” at Everard Read Joburg from April 9 to May 2
- Banele Khoza’s “I was always within and without” at Goodman Gallery, London, until April 4
- Warren Maroon’s “The Handshake’s Not Worth The Grip” at Everard Read Cape Town until April 11
- Moshekwa Langa’s “Proxies” solo exhibition at Stevenson, Cape Town, until May 9
- Amogelang Maepa’s “One-Night Stands in White Mustangs” solo exhibition at Berman Contemporary, Cape Town, until May 3
- Alexia Smith’s “Rumble: The Body Entangled” and Judith Westerveld’s “The Crow Messengers” at AVA, Cape Town, until April 23
Theatre
‘Under the Shade of a Tree I Sat and Wept’
This playful production looks at public forgiveness through SA’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission — coinciding with its 30th anniversary — and Kosovo’s Movement for the Reconciliation of Blood Feuds. It is a moving, irreverent and aesthetically rich journey through the complexity of national acts of healing. Greg Homann is the dramaturg and Blerta Neziraj the director.
Dates: April 9-19
Venue: Market Theatre, Joburg
Tickets: R110-R220
‘Stupid Fucking Bird’
Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird is a darkly funny reimagining of Chekhov’s The Seagull. Con, a playwright eager to change the world, battles the shadow of his famous mother, Emma, whose lover Trigorin, in turn, becomes the focus of Nina’s ambitions. Around them, a web of frustrated desire spirals.
Dates: April 9 - May 2
Venue: The Baxter Studio, Cape Town
Tickets: R150-R250
‘mAnJE ! MaNJe (an epic)’
Nominated for seven Fleur du Cap awards (winning Best Original Music), the production — directed by Mark Fleishman and composed by Neo Muyanga — uses the story of the ancient Greek inventor Daedalus to stage a spectacular lament on the human condition in the age of big data and climate catastrophe.
Dates: April 17 - 25
Venue: Flipside, Baxter Theatre, Cape Town
Tickets: R120-R200
‘Man With No Surname’
Mfundi Vundla’s new play tells the story of Thabo, a doctor, and Moruti, a former freedom fighter returning from exile — the one in search of a home, the other a sexual predator. Directed by James Ncobo.
Dates: Until April 12
Venue: Joburg Theatre
Tickets: R150-R300
Music
‘Dakh Daughters’
Dakh Daughters is a Ukrainian project working in music, theatre, and cabaret. The widely acclaimed ensemble performs Antidote, created in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Dates: April11 & 12
Venue: Market Theatre, Joburg
Tickets: R150
Vivaldi’s Gloria and Haydn’s Nelson Mass
In their annual Easter collaboration at the Paarl Toringkerk, Cape Town Opera and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra will present two beloved sacred works — Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria and Joseph Haydn’s Nelson Mass.
Date: April 4
Venue: Toringkerk, Paarl
Tickets: R295
Autumn symphonies
The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra’s autumn season is upon us, and promises to delight.
April 2
Conductor: Bernhard Gueller
Soloist: Leo de María, piano
Programme: Mussorgsky, Scherzo in B-flat Major; Haydn, Symphony No. 104, “London”; Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23
April 9
Conductor: Nicholas Chalmers
Soloist: Roelof Temmingh, piano
Programme: Britten, The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; Roelof Temmingh, Piano Concerto;Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”
April 16
Conductor: Nicholas Chalmers
Soloist: Petrus Coetzee, viola
Programme: Beethoven, Egmont Overture, Op. 84;Bartók, Viola Concerto; Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 2, Op. 52, “Lobgesang”
April 23
Conductor: Arjan Tien
Soloist: Hawijch Elders, violin
Programme: Wagner, Lohengrin Prelude to Act 1; Sibelius, Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47; Ravel, Daphnis et Chloé Suites No. 1 and 2
April 30
Conductor: Arjan Tien
Soloist: Peter Martens, cello
Programme: Debussy, Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune; Shostakovich, Cello Concerto in E-flat Major, Op. 107; Dvořák, Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Op. 60
Venue: Cape Town City Hall
Tickets: R190-R450
