THE newly-established Canberra Wind Symphony has announced the appointment of Geoff Grey as the artistic director.

It’s not exactly a surprise.

Grey is no stranger to Canberra audiences, through his directorship of the Band of the Royal Military College Duntroon for six years and the parent organisation for the Wind Symphony, Canberra City Band, also for six years.

Away from Canberra he’s conducted ABC Classic FM live-to-air broadcasts, recorded Olympic anthems, has an ARIA Gold Record and recently conducted works of Percy Grainger in the Lucerne Concert Hall in Switzerland, one of the world’s great halls.

“I’m thrilled to be appointed to this position”, Grey says. “The medium of the Wind Symphony is a stunning platform to showcase the incredible excitement and passion created by the writers for this large instrumental blend”.

Intended to become the ACT Region’s peak wind ensemble, the Wind Symphony is an ensemble that has attracted the top musicians from this region. Launched only a few weeks ago, the ensemble is the newest to be introduced under the Canberra City Band Inc. umbrella and is by far the largest development in the band’s ambitious   artistic revamp, following introduction of the specialised chamber ensembles, the Hoffmann Winds and the Hoffmann Brass.

So, they’re asking — Is it a band? Is it an orchestra?

The answer? You can think of the Canberra Wind Symphony as an orchestra without the strings. “Instead, all instruments in the ensemble are powered by the same medium – air – which is the optimum tool for creating a stunningly unified sound with infinite possibilities of expression.”

The characteristic large brass section means that it has just as much power and diversity as a string orchestra, while the woodwinds deliver a “toneful synergy” to both the harmonic and melodic scorings.

Band president, Dom Galloway, says, “We’re very excited about this development”, noting that

the band has been the National Eisteddfod Open ‘A’ Grade Champion for the past six years, and was awarded the inaugural ACT Music Industry Award for ‘Best Orchestra; Concert, Brass or Big Band’ in 2012, achieving the same distinction in 2013.

We should add that over the recent Easter weekend, the Band achieved overall second place in the Open A Grade Concert Band category of the Australian National Band Championships.

Assembling the region’s finest wind players will be first on Grey’s agenda, he says, adding, “We’ll soon be launching a terrific showcase series with every performance including a hallmark work from an Australian composer. I’m passionate about highlighting great Australian writers alongside the world’s best, all delivered by fantastic players…This is the most significant addition to the Canberra large ensemble landscape since Ernest Llewellyn became conductor of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra in 1965”.

The Canberra Wind Symphony will debut at 1.30pm the High Court of Australia on Sunday, July 5 featuring works by Samuel Hazo, Percy Grainger, Jack Stamp and Philip Sparke. Free, but booking is required to hcourt.gov.au/about/concerts but does not guarantee seating.