African choral music enchants Beijing's audience

The award-winning Cape Town Opera Chorus from South Africa staged Horizons, a concert of African choral music on Thursday at the more than 600-year-old Divine Music Administration inside the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, as part of the ongoing 27^th Beijing Music Festival.

Under the baton of conductor and pianist Jose Dias, the ensemble seamlessly moved from the bel canto to the transparency of sacred music and the earthiness of jazz, taking the mesmerized audience on a journey to explore the expansive landscape of South African choral music, a vibrant and uplifting genre which combines traditional African rhythms and harmonies with modern gospel influences.