The Brit Award-winning Blake with opera star Gardar Thor Cortes – four of the most gifted male vocalists in the world – tour South Africa this month.
They will come together to bring to South Africa four concerts combining the very best of opera, classical, musicals and pop harmony with some of the best loved classical crossover music, masterfully arranged and expertly performed, to create a magical evening.
Mixing pop, rock and classical anthems with rich harmony vocals, British ‘boy band’ Blake launched their first album in 2007. The public embraced their debut album immediately, with over 100 000 copies being sold in just three weeks, earning the group their first Gold Disc. The music industry followed in early 2008, when the album received the prestigious Brit award for Album of the Year, a huge honour for a group still less than a year old.
Since that time, their music has achieved remarkable success. Their upbeat version of Swing low was chosen as the official anthem of England Rugby for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In 2008 their highly anticipated second album, And so it goes, was released and went straight in at Number 12 in the UK pop charts and Number 1 in several classical charts around the world.
Joining Blake on their debut South African tour is the ‘James Bond’ of classical music, Cortes, an Icelandic tenor who was born into a musical family and trained as a singer in Vienna, Copenhagen and London. He has performed various leading tenor roles in operas, as well as a leading part in Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End. His debut album in the UK, titled Cortes, entered the UK classical chart at Number 1.
For Johannesburg, Blake and Cortes will be accompanied by the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra .
Performances in Johannesburg take place on 27 and 28 June at Emperors Palace.
For more information on the artists, you may visit their websites: https://www.blakeofficial.com and https://www.gardarthorcortes.com
