Josh Ansley & Phillip Hanly to grace Summer Night concert in Harare.

Molly Dzangare singing last year with Cito is back for the 2016 Summer Night concert in Harare.

ZIMBABWEAN talents are making their presence felt all over the world, and in the area of arts and entertainment home audiences take extra pride from homecoming performances by local entertainers doing well elsewhere.

There will likely be a warm welcome, therefore, for two young Zimbabweans carving out musical careers for themselves in South Africa when they take to the stage for the 2016 Summer Night concert in Harare.

The singers are well-known performer Josh Ansley and rising star Phillip Hanly, who will headline an evening of smooth sounds appropriately subtitled The Homecoming.

Minky Walters of Sound Event Management said the two Zimbabwean singers were making names for themselves on the international scene and were pleased to be invited to top the bill of what has become one of Harare’s most popular annual open air events.

“Summer Night Concert was created several years ago and in our two most recent stagings, the top acts featured South African singer Salim Kagee in 2014, while last year’s show was headlined by another South African singer, Cito,” she said.

“It was originally hoped to stage Summer Night Concert a week or two ago but a change of venue was made necessary and we are now hosting this family-focused show at Twin Rivers School in Belgravia on Saturday November 12. At this open-air event, our headline singers would be backed by top local talent: tenor Nigel Hopkins, soprano Molly Dzangare and the Twin Rivers School choir.”

Josh Ansley started his musical career on the Reps stage in 2005’s Boy Band Blockbusters show, soon after which he became one of the founder members of Zimbabwe’s first boy band, 5Star.

In recent years he has been starring in Barnyard shows and other musical events across South Africa, and Summer Night Concert brings him back to the audiences who met and loved him first. Phillip Hanly comes from a well-known theatrical family in Harare and has recently started making a name for himself in South Africa, where he took part in the recent Born To Perform talent search show in Johannesburg. Now 20 years old, his voice has been compared to those of Josh Groban and Michael Buble. Both Josh and Philipp are involved n auditions for this year’s South Africa version of The Voice.

Nigel Hopkins is back for 2016

“Also on stage that night will be leading soprano Molly Dzangare, who featured last year and who has this year continued her journey of carving out a singing career on the classical scene. Nigel Hopkins, who also started out in 5Star with Josh and more recently has turned to classical performance, will join the singing line-up. The Twin Rivers choir, which has won local awards and will soon perform in a show with Oliver Mtukudzi, will perform as part of this show,” said Walters.

“This concert is always a family event and people enjoy the music in a relaxed, open-air environment, bringing picnics and their own chairs and blankets.”

Advance booking for Summer Night Concert – The Homecoming is open, with tickets on sale at the Sound Event Management box office in PaSangano building, Avondale.