Design
Decorex Africa
This year, the Cape Town edition of Decorex Africa is themed “The Soft Life”, with a focus on slower living and sensory-focused African interior design. More than 600 exhibitors are taking part, while industry leaders and experts will share their insights on current trends.
Dates: June 25-28
Venue: Cape Town International Convention Centre
Tickets: From R120
Art
Everard Read Joburg x Bag Factory
The legendary Bag Factory is presenting a fundraising group exhibition that features alumni from the past 35 years, as well as current artists, and the list is quite something (among the participating artists are Blessing Ngobeni, Lady Skollie, Kendell Geers, David Koloane and Joachim Schönfeldt, with collaborating artists such as Penny Siopsis, Sam Nhlegethwa, Wayne Barter and Mary Sibande).
Dates: June 4-July 3
Venue: Everard Read Circa, Joburg
Don’t miss:
- The Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Art’s Thoughtforms: The Page as a Liminal Field exhibition of artists’ books inside the Wits Arts Museum, Joburg, until June 5.
- Imraan Christian’s Suleiman’s Sun solo show at Everard Read, Cape Town, from June 11 to July 4.
- Nicola Bailey’s Between Dog and Wolf/Entre Chien et Loup at Everard Read Joburg until June 13.
- Mandy Johnston’s Gatherer solo show at Berman Contemporary in Cape Town until June 28.
- Theresa-Anne Mackintosh’s Now Is Not Forever show at WAM, Joburg, until July 4.
- Solo exhibitions by Pyda Nyariri (Paivapo [There once was …]) and Jonah Sack (Kite Diagrams) at the Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town, from June 18 to July 30.
Festivals
The National Arts Festival
The annual National Arts Festival again enlivens the South African mid-winter. As always, the programme presents a range of productions and artists, including the Soweto String Quartet and the winners of the Standard Bank Young Artists 2026 awards. And then there are the always-exciting Fringe productions.
Dates: June 25 to July 5
Venues: Across Makhanda
Tickets: R30-R200
Hermanus FynArts Festival
What better excuse to pop down to Hermanus than the FynArts Festival? Various performances, talks, exhibitions and workshops promise to enliven the week — keep an eye out for the Ndlovu Youth Choir, chef David Grier and Strauss & Co’s Ian Hunter, among many others.
Dates: June 6-14
Venues: Across Hermanus
Tickets: From R120
Theatre
Rise ’76: The Story of June 16th
Marking the 50th anniversary of the 1976 youth uprisings, the play is set in the fictional Molefe Secondary School in Soweto. It draws on testimonies from more than 40 people, alongside archival material, literature and public records, to tell the story of the protests as lived, intimate experiences.
Dates: June 5-28
Venue: Market Theatre, Joburg
Tickets: R140-R220
Midnight in Parys
In Midnight in Parys, Paul Slabolepszy returns to the stage with Bianca Amato in a play set in a karaoke bar in Parys. Outside, there’s a 2-billion-year-old asteroid crater; inside, two strangers, one running from the past and the other facing a future they can’t escape.
Dates: June 12-28
Venue: The Studio at Montecasino, Joburg
Tickets: R200-R250
Music
UB40 featuring Ali Campbell
Reggae royalty UB40 are back in South Africa for two nights — one sold out so quickly the organisers had to add another — and Ali Campbell is back behind the mic.
Dates: June 6 (sold out) & 7
Venue: SunBet Arena, Pretoria
Tickets: From R600
El Último Sueño De Frida Y Diego
Composer Gabriela Lena Frank makes her Metropolitan Opera debut with this magical-realist portrait of Mexico’s Frida Kahlo (Isabel Leonard) and Diego Rivera (Carlos Álvarez), with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Directed and choreographed by Deborah Colker.
Dates: June 14 & 16
Venues: Select Ster-Kinekor theatres
Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra - Winter season
June 4
Arjan Tien, conductor; Nikola Meeuwsen, piano
Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op 62; Beethoven, Piano Concerto No 3 in C Minor, Op 37; Beethoven, Symphony No 3 in E-flat Major, Op 55, Eroica.
June 11
Arjan Tien, conductor; Nina Schumann & Megan-Geoffrey Prins, piano
Ravel, “Alborada del gracioso” from Miroirs; Poulenc, Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in D Minor; Stravinsky, Petrushka (1947 version).
June 18
Bernhard Gueller, conductor; Hayoung Choi, cello
Haydn, Cello Concerto No 1 in C Major, Hob VIIb:1; Bruckner, Symphony No 7 in E Major.
June 25
Bernhard Gueller, conductor; Daniel Rowland, violin
Ravel, Ma Mère l’Oye; Vasks, Violin Concerto No 1, Distant Light; Schubert, Symphony No 9 in C Major, D 944, The Great.
Venue: City Hall, Cape Town
Tickets: From R190
Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra – Winter season
June 4
Daniel Boico, conductor; Elvin Ganiyev, violin
Beethoven, Egmont Overture; Dvořák, Violin Concerto, Op 53; Brahms, Symphony No 3, Op 90.
June 11
Alexandra Arrieche, conductor; Federico Colli, piano
Schumann, Manfred Overture, Op 115; Schumann, Piano Concerto, Op 54; Schubert, Unfinished Symphony, D 759.
June 18
Daniel Boico, conductor; Stanislav Venglevski, bayan
Brahms, Academic Festival Overture; Ichmouratov: Concerto for Bayan; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, Op 36.
June 25
Alexandra Arrieche, conductor; Rebeca Omordia, piano
Kodály, Dances of Galánta; Saint-Saëns, Piano Concerto No 2, Op 22; Mendelssohn, Scottish Symphony No 3.
Venue: Linder Auditorium, Joburg
Tickets: From R190
Dance
Rites and Rituals: Moving Into Dance
Choreographers Sylvia Glasser and Esther Nasser have had an outsized influence on the South African dance world, and two of their most important works — Stone Cast Ritual and Rite of Spring — are being brought back to the stage by the Moving Into Dance Trust.
Dates: June 18-21
Venue: Joburg Theatre
Tickets: R75-R100
