Cape Town Opera has announced a new collaboration with South African artist Monique Pelser, staging a series of impromptu sonic interventions across Cape Town and the Table Mountain Range to coincide with Art Week and the Investec Cape Town Art Fair.

The project, titled “Hoerikwaggo,” opened on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and runs through Feb. 22, 2026.

Written and directed by Pelser, Hoerikwaggo draws its sonic language from the natural world of the mountain itself: the rocks, fynbos, waterfalls, sandstone, granite, boulders, and the Cape’s signature South Easterly wind. These elemental textures are interpreted and vocalized by Cape Town Opera’s Vocal Ensemble, whose singers will appear without warning among members of the public at sites across the city — immersing unsuspecting audiences in a living soundscape rooted in one of South Africa’s most sacred landscapes.

The work takes its name from the Khoikhoi word for the Table Mountain Range and carries an explicit ecological and cultural mission. Pelser, who works across performance, research, writing, and illustration, conceived Hoerikwaggo in support of the global and local drive to recognize the spiritual and heritage significance of Table Mountain as a UNESCO World Heritage Site — and to honor the communities who have lived in relationship with the mountain for generations.

The daily performances will be broadcast live across social media. Audiences unable to attend in person can follow the interventions in real time via @capetownopera and @moniquepelserstudio.

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