Opening Night Experience

Join us as HEAT 2026 officially opens with an evening of choral music unfolding across Cape Town’s city centre.

Supported by Mission Inner City, the opening night invites visitors to move between historic venues and experience the city through a specially conceived choral journey by the Amici de Lumine Choir.

6pm: Exhibitions will open at: (free to attend)

Aspire Art
AVA Gallery
Berman Contemporary All Women Gallery
Christopher Moller Gallery
Eclectica Contemporary
Everard Read / CIRCA Cape Town
Nel Gallery
Peffers Fine Art
SMAC Gallery
Strauss & Co at Alliance Française du Cap
THK Gallery
Thomarts Gallery
Union Block (Spier Arts Trust)
WORLDART
33BREE Artists Gallery

Official Festival Opening at Aspire Art

The evening begins at Aspire Art, where HEAT 2026 will be officially opened by a representative of the City of Cape Town, Mission Inner City and festival founder and director Mary Corrigall.

The Amici de Lumine Choir will add a stirring choral dimension to the occasion before winding its way through the city towards the AVA Gallery. Visitors are encouraged to follow the music as it moves through Cape Town’s cultural district.

Supported by Mission Inner City, the opening night invites visitors to move between galleries and historic venues, encountering the visual arts programme alongside choral flash mobs created by Amici de Lumine that animate the streets and connect the festival’s different destinations.

7pm: Live Art and Performance

At Everard Read, performance artist Oupa Sibeko will activate the gallery through Pillowtical, a 20-minute live work rooted in play, place, memory and the psychogeography of the city.

At Nel Gallery, artist collective KRAS will present a live performance, extending its artistic practice beyond the exhibition space and into an immediate encounter with the audience.

At Thomarts Gallery, a Collaborative Performance, WHEN MUSIC MEETS COLOUR 2.0, will be presented by Mr Trumpet And The Trio and Nkosinathi Ngulube.

7.30pm: Amici de Lumine at Iziko Old Town House

The Amici de Lumine Choir concludes its journey through the city with a final series of choral flourishes inside the atmospheric Iziko Old Town House. (A TICKET IS REQUIRED FOR ENTRY)

Surrounded by the architecture and collection of one of Cape Town’s most significant historic buildings, the choir will bring the opening-night programme to a resonant and memorable close.

Come for the official opening, follow the choir through the city and experience Cape Town’s cultural district fully awake.