Cape Philharmonic Youth Ensemble
Artist
The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra has expanded its community reach with the establishment of a symphonic wind ensemble, the Cape Town Philharmonic Wind Ensemble (CPWE). It is open to all adult amateur wind instrumentalists and percussionists. Faan Malan, one of the country’s leading wind specialists/conductors and conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble, has taken the CPWE under his wing, and he conducts weekly rehearsals with the aim of presenting four concerts a year.
While the CPWE has made several appearances, the formal launch concert will be held at a concert, with no audience due to Covid-19 restrictions, at the Cape Town City Hall on September 16, 2021. The concert will be streamed at a date to be advised.
Says Malan, “South Africa lags behind the rest of the world which is enjoying a huge renaissance of great masterpieces for the wind ensemble by composers such as Handel, Holst, Stravinsky, Donizetti and Vaughan-Williams. As Australian composer Percy Grainger once wrote “As a vehicle of deeply emotional expression it seems to me unrivalled.”
Such ensembles have become the choice of contemporary composers such as Carpenter, Gorb, Maslanka and Whitacre, whose Seal Lullaby was recently recorded by the CPO wind instrumentalists together with VOX Cape Town in the CPO’s COVID-19 video series. This is also part of the CPO’s vision to be the orchestra for all and to reach every community possible.
A new wind ensemble will provide an opportunity for the many advanced amateur wind and percussion players and music teachers in Cape Town who don’t play in a professional or youth orchestra to perform music of the highest quality in an ensemble of a high standard. Concerts will include major works in the Symphonic Wind Ensemble as well as chamber music repertoire.
It is also a growth path for musicians in the highly acclaimed CPYWE, should they choose not to make music a career.
For more information, contact Faan Malan on 083 4117611 or faanmalan@gmail.com