The official launch concert of the Cape Town Philharmonic Wind Ensemble (CPWE) takes place under the direction of wind band specialist Faan Malan at Artscape Opera House on May 12 at 19:30.

MC will be radio personality Waldo Buckle who will introduce the programme which includes a curtainraiser by the Cape Town Philharmonic Youth Wind Ensemble which will perform Poet and Peasant Overture by Frans von  Suppe, also under the direction of Malan.

The works to be performed by the CPWE are Colonial Song by Australian composer Percy Grainger, written in 1911 as a piano piece as a gift to his mother, Rose reflecting the Australian countryside.  This will be followed by the Coriolanus Ballet Suite for Wind Orchestra by Frigyes Hidas, which was premiered at the International Wind Band conference in Sweden in 2003. Festivo! by Edward Gregson was premiered in 1985, and is a  festive piece, exuberant in style. Festivo has become a standard repertoire piece in many countries and is one of the composer’s most popular and most frequently performed works.

The programme will conclude with Danzon No. 2, by South American composer Arturo Marquez. The danzón itself was Cuban-born, from a natural synthesis of Spanish, British, and French dance forms, and this work is built on a beautiful, elegant main theme, stated on clarinet, building in intensity before erupting into passionate rhythms later.

Tickets are R120 / R100 for pensioners at the door and under 18  and are available from Computicket or Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7685