The South African College of Music, UCT, celebrates the 70th birthday of award-winning South African composer Grant McLachlan with a concert showcasing the very disparate nature of Grant’s music from several decades of work.

Performed by current and former staff, students, and guests, the programme features the premiere of a new cello and piano work written for and performed by his daughter Nicola McLachlan, a UCT alumnus now based in Germany. The concert also presents a chamber work set to an animated film of a painting by Robert Slingsby, a recent string ensemble work premiered at London’s Wigmore Hall, and a touch of Bach.

Grant McLachlan is currently a composition lecturer at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He is known for composing an extensive body of work of soundtracks for natural history films for many of the major world broadcasters, for a body of choral and concert music, and is also familiar to the UCT Summer School audiences for his innovative lecture-recitals presenting a wide range of musical topics in unusual and compelling ways. He is probably best known for composing the most frequently performed work by a living South African composer, the Christmas carol Come, Colours Rise.

The first 100 UCT students receive free entry (early bird), after which UCT student tickets will cost R50.