A multicultural musical event featuring musicians, singers, composers and performers from all over the Commonwealth, including Malta, will be held as part of the activities to mark the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference (CHOGM).

The Commonwealth Resounds!, as the event has been dubbed, will include a main concert on November 24 at the Manoel Theatre and smaller performances throughout Malta.

The concert will follow a format devised by Alison Cox for a special concert given at Buckingham Palace in the presence of members of the Royal Family on March 1, 2005, as part of a Royal Music Day. That concert had featured musicians from many of the major ethnic and cultural groups in the UK.

Musicians from India, Pakistan, Africa, the Caribbean (Jamaica), the South Pacific (Fiji, Australia), Cyprus, the UK and Malta will take part in The Commonwealth Resounds!

Groups involved in the event will also give individual performances all over Malta organised by the Commonwealth People's Forum during the week beginning November 21.

The assembled performers represent music from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, Australasia and South Pacific.

There is also a Young Musicians category. During CHOGM, Malta will host the very first Commonwealth Youth Choir, directed by Lino Attard.

A beautiful souvenir programme (to celebrate Malta as a cultural host to over 150 international performers in The Commonwealth Resounds!) will feature images by the celebrated photographer Malcolm Crowthers.

The Royal Commonwealth Society and Buckingham Palace are supporting the event and have helped organise a highly prestigious curtain-raising event for sponsors and supporters of The Commonwealth Resounds! that will take place in London on November 17.

This will also coincide with the opening of the RCS's new auditorium - it will be the first event ever to be performed there and will be attended by a member of the Royal Family.

The Commonwealth Resounds! was launched yesterday by Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech.