One of South Africa's most popular instrumental Ensembles, the ACE Ensemble is made up some of Cape Town's top young professional musicians. With their fresh approach, these highly talented young women are making Western instrumental music more appealing to a wide audience. The versatile performers bring life to music from the early Baroque, through the Classical and Romantic periods, to contemporary hits.
ACE is a popular feature at many of Cape Town's most prestigious events, including concerts, corporate functions, weddings, wine and food festivals and restaurants.
The brainchild of celebrated flautist and music business pioneer Carina Bruwer, ACE's vision is to bring Western based instrumental music to a wider audience in Africa and ultimately worldwide, by using their unique attributes to appeal to both connoisseur and novice alike.
The ensemble came into existence in 2000 as the ACE Trio, when Carina, Este and Anjulie came together for a light background music performance in Stellenbosch. The performance was incredibly well received, and invitations followed from event organisers for the trio to perform at various other events. The girls extended their repertoire and named themselves ACE, an acronym of the first letter of each member's name.
In 2003, with many performances lined up, ACE had built up a small "pool" of likeminded female instrumentalists due to unpredictable schedules of the original members, and performed mainly as a quartet consisting of flute, violin, viola and cello. The repertoire was and is carefully chosen to be unique and exciting for both performer and audience, and is constantly being added to.
Events ACE has performed for include:
KKNK 2008 (3 sold-out shows)
Minister Erwin's budget speech dinner (guests including President Thabo Mbeki)
Volksblad Kunstefees
Nederburg Wine Auction
Cape Times / KPMG Business Personality of the Year Awards
J&B Met
The prestige Vergelegen “V”- launch
African Air Defence Expo Opening Dinner
Wembley Fashion Square Opening
FIFA 2010 Planning Events
Nederburg Wine Auction
Cosmopolitan / Brutal Fruit Cape Town Fashion Week After Party
Stellenbosch Wine Festival
Cape Town Whiskey Festival
Breast cancer benefit ball
World Electricity Conference Dinner
SAB events
Pick 'n Pay dinners
Venues where ACE performs regularly include:
Cape Town International Convention Centre
12 Apostles Hotel and Spa
Rhodes House, Cape Town
Groote Schuur Estate
Pieter Toerien's Theatre on the Bay
Mount Nelson Hotel
Fancourt Estate, George
Erinvale Golf Estate
Radisson Hotel
Kirstenbosch Gardens
Lord Charle Hotel
La Motte Estate
Nederburg Wine Estate
Grand Roche Hotel
Grootte Schuur Estate
Lanzerac Hotel
Table Bay Hotel
Vergelegen
Aquarium, V&A Waterfront
Various winefarms, golf estates and other conference venues in Western Cape
Their repertoire of more than 12 hours consists of chamber music works from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic music eras, as well as popular opera and symphonic transcriptions, plus Jazz, Latin, Cuban and African transcriptions. Programs can be especially tailored to suit the style of the venue, musical series, festival or occasion. From stylish and top quality Classical Chamber concerts, with programs consisting of works by Mozart, Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, as well as virtuosic arrangements of operatic and symphonic sections; to sexy crossover programs of up-beat popular Classics, Jazz, Latin American, African and World music.
The ACE Ensemble has a repertoire of over 12 hours (Click here for full repertoire), which includes:
Baroque: Sonatas and quartets by Telemann, J.S. Bach, Handel, Sammartini, Loeillet, Vivaldi, Hasse, Purcell and Vitali
Famous Baroque works like Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, J.S. Bach’s Air on a G String, etc.
Classical: String quartets and quartets for flute and strings by WA Mozart
Haydn String Quartets
Famous Classics: Themes from Bizet’s opera Carmen
Strauss Waltzes
Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Flight of the Bumble Bee”
Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Theme from Romeo and Juliet
Offenbach ’s Barcarolle
Ravel’s Bolero
Elgar’s Chanson de Matin
Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours
Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1
Holst’s Jupiter (from "The Planets")
Grieg’s Morgenstimmung
Puccini’s Nessun Dorma (from "Turandot") and Oh! Mio Babbino Caro (from "Gianni Schicch")
Fauré’s Pavane
Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1
Monti’s Czardas
Light music and Jazz: Movie soundtracks such as Tango from “Scent of a Woman”, Theme song from “Schindler’s List”, “The Godfather”, etc
Favorites like Cavatina from “The Deer Hunter”, The Man I Love, songs from “The Sound of Music”, Gershwin’s Summertime, Hello Dolly, Fly me to the Moon, New York New York, Piano Man, Raindrops keep Falling on My Head, Yesterday, Hymn a L’Amour, etc.
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Memory, Think of Me, Close Every Door, Starlight Express, Take That Look Off Your Face, Tell Me on a Sunday, The Phantom of the Opera, Love Changes Everything, Jesus Christ Superstar
Jazz standards like Girl from Ipanema, Autumn Leaves, Blue Bossa, Could it be You, Darn That Dream, Dolphin Dance, The Green Dolphin, In a Sentimental Mood, It Don’t Mean a Thing, Misty, My Funny Valentine, Nica’s Dream, Night and Day, Summer Samba, Take Five, etc.
Piazzola Libertango
Jazz and Argentinean Tangos
African Improvisations
Wedding Music: Wedding Marches / Processional music:
- Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from A Midsummernight’s Dream
- Wagner’s Bridal Chorus
- Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary
- Pachelbel’s Canon in D
- Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
- Handel’s Processional from "Royal Fireworks Music"
Fauré’s Pavane
Schubert’s Ave Maria
Bach / Gonoud’s Ave Maria
Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from "The Messias"
Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Franck’s Panis Angelicus
