Symphonie Fantastique
MASTERS SERIES
Fri 9 & Sat 10 August 2024, 7.30pm
Perth Concert Hall
West Australian Symphony Orchestra respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and Elders of Country throughout Western Australia, and the Whadjuk Noongar people on whose lands we work and share music.
How to use your Digital Program
Symphonie Fantastique
Felix MENDELSSOHN The Hebrides (10 mins)
Holly HARRISON Superhighway - for Saxophone and Orchestra (World Premiere) (20 mins)
Heavy Haulage
Whales & Snails
Techno Wizard
Interval (25 mins)
Hector BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique (49 mins)
Daydreams (Largo) – Passions (Allegro agitato e appassionato assai)
A Ball (Valse: Allegro non troppo)
In the Fields (Adagio)
March to the Scaffold (Allegretto non troppo)
Sabbath Night Dream (Larghetto – Allegro)
Umberto Clerici conductor
Matthew Styles saxophone
Wesfarmers Arts Pre-concert Talk
Find out more about the music in the concert with this week’s speaker, Rosalind Appleby. The Pre-concert Talk will take place at 6.45pm at the Terrace Level Corner Stage.
Wesfarmers Arts Meet the Artist (Saturday Only)
Join composer Holly Harrison and soloist Matthew Styles for a postconcert interview immediately following the performance in the Terrace level foyer. Uncover more about the music and hear insights into the performance experience.
Listen to WASO
This performance is recorded for broadcast Sunday 18 August, 1pm (AWST) on ABC Classic. Date subject to change. For further details visit abc.net.au/classic
WASO On Stage
About the Artists
Umberto Clerici
Conductor
After a career spanning more than 20 years as a gifted cello soloist and orchestral musician, Umberto Clerici is widely regarded for his seamless transition to the podium as a now acclaimed conductor. The 2024 season will mark Clerici’s second as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, in addition to being a frequent guest conductor with several leading orchestras.
Umberto began his career as a virtuoso cellist, making his solo debut at the age of 17 performing Haydn’s D Major Cello Concerto in Japan. After years of performing on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls, Umberto took up the position as Principal Cello of the Teatro Regio di Torino, following which he was Principal Cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2021.
It was in Sydney in 2018 that Umberto made his conducting debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. Following a swift trajectory of prestigious conducting engagements, Umberto is now in high demand with the major symphony orchestras throughout Australia and New Zealand.
In addition to his role as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Umberto’s 2024 conducting engagements include returns to the podiums of the Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras together with a three-week series with the Sydney Symphony for ‘Symphony Hour’ that Umberto himself has expertly curated
Other recent highlights include his debut with the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra and a hugely successful debut in opera conducting Verdi’s Macbeth with Opera Queensland.
Upcoming European conducting engagements include Elgar’s Cello Concerto with Steven Isserlis for the Volksoper Vienna, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo in Palermo and Orchestra Regionale Toscana.
As a cellist, Umberto is beloved by audiences worldwide, having performed internationally as a soloist at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musicverein, the great Shostakovich Hall of St Petersburg, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and the Salzburg Festival. He is one of only two Italians to have ever won a prize for cello in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Umberto plays cellos by Matteo Goffriller (made in 1722, Venezia) and Carlo Antonio Testore (made in 1758, Milano).
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About the Artists
Matthew Styles
Saxophone
One of the truly versatile saxophonists in Australia, Matt Styles seamlessly traverses jazz, classical, funk, and avant-garde as a performer, educator, arranger, composer and musical director.
Describing himself as a ‘performing educator’, he has inspired audiences and students in the UK, Asia and Australia. Matt has performed with such jazz and commercial artists as Ben Folds, Diana Ross, Dave Weckl, Paul Grabowsky, Tim Minchin, Olivia Newton-John and The Manhattan Transfer. Having performed at the Villa Cellimontana (Rome) and Ninegates (Beijing) International Jazz Festivals, Matt also appears on numerous jazz, classical and cross-genre recordings and released an album of Australian cross-genre works on Tall Poppies Records entitled Home by 11.
On the classical side, the Malaysian Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, and Perth Symphony Orchestras have also utilised Matt as their principal saxophonist. Every year since 1997, Matt has given Australian or World premiere performances of classical and cross-genre works specifically arranged or composed for him in his capacity as a unique soloist and improviser, including the Australian premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Hidden Love Song as soloist with WASO. Seasons of Life is a four-movement cross-genre concerto for soprano saxophone and wind orchestra written for Matt by Glyn MacDonald, which received its world premiere on August 31 2019 and released in December of the same year. Recently he began composing works for the saxophone, which are published by Astute Music UK.
Following post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music, London, he went on to receive a coveted Churchill Fellowship enabling him to study with Dr Otis Murphy, Dr Tom Walsh, Bob Berg and Dr Eugene Rousseau. He received his doctorate in the interpretation, pedagogy and performance of classical, jazz and multi-genre or ‘cross-over’ works. Giving the world premiere of Superhighway - a kaleidoscope of classical, funk, punk, rock and jazz, written for him by Holly Harrison - with WASO will be one of Matt’s proudest moments in 2024.
With over 25 years of experience teaching at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, Matt is currently Senior Lecturer in Classical and Cross-Genre Saxophone Studies, Head of the Honours of Music program, Director of the ‘Phone Network’ and supervisor for Honours, Masters and PhD students at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He is passionate about injury prevention and rehabilitation for the saxophone and continues to research this area, presenting his findings and helping students and professional across in the UK, Asia and Australia.
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About the Music
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-1847)
Overture, Op.26, The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave)
In April 1829, Felix Mendelssohn began ‘a Grand Tour’ of Europe and Britain. His parents hoped this might broaden his mind, though it must already have been considerably expanded by the atmosphere at home. Visitors to the Mendelssohn house in Felix’s youth included the scientist Alexander von Humboldt, philosopher Hegel, and music critic and theorist Adolph Bernhard Marx.
Young Felix arrived in London on 21 April, and described it as ‘the most grandiose and complicated monster that the world has to offer’. After the London season ended, he and his travelling companion Klingemann set off for Scotland, reaching Edinburgh on 28 July.
Mendelssohn was greatly stimulated by Scotland. He thought the view from Arthur’s Seat ‘incomparable’. He admired the men ‘with their long red beards, tartan plaids, bonnets and plumes, bare knees, and their bagpipes in their hands’.
Klingemann and Mendelssohn planned to travel north through Stirling and Perth to Blair Atholl, then westwards to the Inner Hebrides, where the objective was Fingal’s Cave, a grotto on the island of Staffa, ‘discovered’ by Joseph Banks in 1772. By the early 19th century this ‘temple not made with hands’ had become a tourist attraction.
In a letter dated 7 August, Mendelssohn jotted down the theme that would eventually open this overture; ‘…to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides have affected me,’ he wrote to his family. His musical impressions resulted in a work which remains to this day one of the great soundscapes in orchestral literature. ‘For many years to come,’ said biographer Wilfred Blunt, ‘few composers of water music could escape its influence…and constant repetition has not staled it…’
Remarkably, Mendelssohn achieved his nature portrait within the bounds of a quite clear-cut, albeit modified, sonata form. Indeed, the straightforwardness of early versions was one reason why Mendelssohn revised the work prior to its first performance in May 1830, and again prior to publication in 1835. He wrote to his sister on 30 November 1829, by then from Italy:
“…I hope to have it ready for England and Michaelmas. The D major middle section is very silly. The whole so- called development tastes more of counterpoint than of whale oil, seagulls and codliver oil, and it ought to be the other way around.”
The work begins with the undulating theme, jotted down by Mendelssohn in his letter, which is subjected to gradual rolling modulation and subtle dynamic swells. The D major second subject, emerging from the lower strings, more nearly fits the specifications of conventional melody, and the exposition ends with brass interjections, which then punctuate the beginning of the development section. One can hear how Mendelssohn has succeeded in heightening the expressive aspect of this section over formalistic working-out. Indeed, the work is quite astonishing from this point to the end. The principal themes are reversed, and the opening theme returns quietly. This is an elegant rounding off, perhaps, but the effect is almost peremptory, the flute taking our minds upwards, as if the overture drifts away on the wind.
Gordon Kalton Williams
Symphony Australia © 1998
First performance (Revised version):
14 May 1832, London. Thomas Attwood, conductor.
First WASO performance:
7 June 1947. Henry Krips, conductor.
Most recent WASO performance:
10-11 October 2020. Jessica Gethin, conductor.
Instrumentation:
two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets; timpani and strings.
Glossary
Sonata form – a term conceived in the 19th century to describe the way most Classical composers structured at least the first movement of a symphonic work or a sonata. It involves the exposition or presentation of themes or subjects: the first subject is in the tonic or home key, the second in a contrasting key. The resulting tension between keys is intensified in the development, where recognisable melodic and rhythmic aspects of the themes are manipulated as the music moves further and further away from the ultimate goal of the home key. Tension is resolved at the recapitulation where both subjects are fully restated in the tonic. There is sometimes a coda (literally, ‘tail’) to enhance the sense of finality.
Counterpoint – two or more lines of music or melodies that are played at the same time. Music which uses counterpoint is said to be ‘contrapuntal’. ‘Imitative’ counterpoint is when the various parts are playing similar or identical melodies one after the other – canons and fugues are examples.
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About the Music
Holly Harrison
(b. 1988)
Superhighway – for Saxophone &
Orchestra (World Premiere)
Heavy Haulage
Whales & Snails
Techno Wizard
Composer’s notes:
My soundworld embraces a range of genres and stylistic juxtapositions, and this concerto is no exception. You may hear elements from funk, metal, punk, disco, prog-rock, blues, and perhaps even some gospel and hip-hop too, but most of all, I hope you will hear what a wonderfully diverse instrument the saxophone is. This is an instrument capable of extraordinary agility - it can be wild and unhinged one moment, and tender and honeyed the next. It can cut like a knife or be as smooth as velvet. It can be swift, slinky, savage, and sultry. In the hands of Matt Styles, it is all these things. In the spirit of spontaneity, there are a few built-in improvisation moments too - a nod to Matt’s accomplished career as a classical, jazz and cross-over performer.
Now, about that title. Concertos are the perfect vehicle to highlight a soloist, and with this in mind, the work explores the overarching theme of superhighways. I could write all day about metaphors of orchestras and soloists as highways and cars, but what I’m really interested in is music that just goes. I wanted to write a work from ‘go to whoa’, where the saxophone takes charge and harnesses a keep-on-truckin’ type of attitude.
The first (and longest) movement ‘Heavy Haulage’ is very much inspired by my commute from Western Sydney via the notorious M4 motorway. A truck in my rear-view mirror is almost always a constant (and I can’t help but notice that some trucks have kinder faces than others). This movement amplifies this experience and imagines a superhighway on a much-larger scale. The highway weaves a criss-crossed web of on and off-ramps, and the alto sax must navigate its way forward, carving its own path. There are rapid stylistic changes throughout with the extroverted sax showing off its skills from section to section, continually seeking to outdo itself. Listen out for bluesy altissimo sax in the opening, hip-hop inspired slap-tongues in the middle, and duelling jams at the end.
The second movement features the soprano saxophone, providing a dramatic mood shift. Move over trucks and dogs and make way for ‘Whales & Snails’. This movement showcases the tender side of the saxophone, conjuring up a more lyrical musical language, with plenty of bends and smears from the orchestra lurking beneath. Inspired by migration superhighways or the Humpback Highway, this movement pays homage to the awe-inducing journey that thousands of whales make each winter to warmer waters. There are also a few sea snails hitching a ride, too.
And finally, ‘Techno Wizard’. The third movement takes the idea of the information superhighway (the internet) as its starting point and imagines the saxophone as a master of the Dark Arts of Technology: a techno wizard. The sax acts as a hacker of sorts, bending the orchestra to its every whim. Conjuring up themes of data hacking and artificial intelligence, woodwinds, strings, and muted brass beep and whirr throughout, perhaps the inner workings of a machine. As a result, this movement is musically darker. The middle features plenty of bass instrument action (I’m looking at you, bassoons and low brass), as the saxophone surfs across the top. After an impromptu jam session with timpani and basses, the work ends on a joyous note, with the sax driving the work home in an almost gospel-influenced way.
Commissioned for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra by Geoff Stearn.
Frist performance:
These are the World Premiere performances of Superhighway.
Instrumentation:
two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes (one doubling cor anglais), one clarinet, one bass clarinet, one bassoon, one contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, two percussion, harp and strings.
Glossary
Altissimo – Very high in pitch.
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Interview with Holly Harrison
Capturing Spontaneity in Notated Form
Holly Harrison has cemented herself as one of Australia’s most innovative contemporary composers, always exploring new ideas and never afraid to push boundaries when adding to the orchestral music canon.
Harrison's latest work Superhighway, a concerto for saxophone and orchestra, will have its World Premiere at Symphonie Fantastique this August featuring Perth saxophonist Matthew Styles.
Ahead of the premiere, we chatted to Holly about how she captures ideas and translates them into music, and what audiences can expect from her latest piece.
Your new work Superhighway explores several ideas. Tell us about your inspirations and how you’ve combined these ideas together in the concerto.
For me, I either have a title right at the start of the composing processing or not until the very end. A few days into working on the piece, I was driving on the M4 motorway in Sydney and the title Superhighway sprung to mind. It fitted well with the musical ideas I was already exploring, of letting the saxophone fly at full pelt from the get-go, but also led me to consider the other types of superhighways that exist and how this could provide inspiration for the following movements. I liked the idea of the musical line itself being its own highway.
Not long after, I was watching a whale documentary and there was much discussion about migration highways – it was fortuitous timing, and I started to wonder if these awe-inspiring journeys could form the basis of movement two. I knew this would also allow for some good contrast in a slower, more lyrical movement. And finally, movement 3 is inspired by the original information superhighway, the internet. I wanted to write a movement that was a bit darker, especially given the number of questions we now have surrounding data breaches, hacking, and the possibilities of artificial intelligence.
Your compositions blend genres in such a seamless and innovative way. What is your process when composing a new work?
The process is different for each piece, of course, but I tend to start primarily with rhythm. I feel this helps me get to the essence of the piece’s energy or momentum, starting with small bite-size rhythms and then expanding them out into an entire structure. I capture a lot of my own improvisations, either on drum kit, flute or trumpet, and sometimes singing or vocalising, and try and transcribe them into something workable and malleable. In the last eighteen months I’ve been experimenting with a LaunchPad device too, which I use in the software Ableton Live as a type of MIDI controller. This kind of lets me play the saxophone (or any other instrument) with my hands, like a drum kit, which I find enormously useful in imagining new combinations of sounds.
How has your experience as a percussionist impacted your work as a composer?
A large part of my musical background is as a drummer. My favourite aspect of drumming is improvising and jamming with other instrumentalists. I love the feeling of being on the edge of the music and not quite knowing what will happen next, but knowing that you can adapt to whatever is thrown your way. I feel drummers, especially in improvising bands, are in a unique position to have a birds-eye view of the music and instinctively know how to move it somewhere else. I see a great parallel here with composing. Part of what I’m trying to capture when I’m writing is this sense of spontaneity that I so enjoy from playing. It may sound strange, but I’d describe it as a feeling of always trying to surprise yourself. I’m interested in capturing spontaneity in notated form.
What’s a piece of advice you’ve received in your career that you think aspiring composers should know?
Be crazy bold! I remember reading an article from the Australian Music Centre many years ago that was a collection of advice for young composers from well-known Australian composers. That particular nugget was from Matthew Hindson. It really struck a chord with me, and I interpret it as always being bold enough to have something to say and finding your voice.
Secondly, write as much music as you can stomach!
Matthew Styles is favourite in the local jazz scene and has performed all over the world. What are you most looking forward to about his performance of Superhighway?
How could I possibly pick one thing! I’m so excited to hear it live and in the flesh, and I know that Matt will give a stellar performance. I’m really looking forward to collaborating in-person and tweaking things here and there. It’s a dream team with Umberto Clerici at the helm too.
What part of the concerto are you most excited for the audience to hear?
Matt Styles absolutely nailing the saxophone part!
About the Music
Hector Berlioz
(1803-1869)
Symphonie fantastique, Op.14
Daydreams (Largo) – Passions (Allegro agitato e appassionato assai)
A Ball (Valse: Allegro non troppo)
In the Fields (Adagio)
March to the Scaffold (Allegretto non troppo)
Sabbath Night Dream (Larghetto – Allegro)
The premiere of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, on 5 December 1830, was greeted with shouts and stamping feet from the enthusiastic audience. But from Berlioz’s point of view, the best comment came from Madame Moke, who on the strength of it finally granted him permission to marry her daughter, Camille. The irony was that it was Camille who had passed on to Berlioz the gossip about his earlier idol, Irish actress Harriet Smithson, which had provoked the fit of jealous rage which inspired the whole symphony – and it was Harriet whom Berlioz married two years later.
Berlioz’s entirely one-sided passion for Smithson had been consuming him for three years, since he saw her playing Ophelia in a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. When Berlioz heard the rumours of a relationship between Smithson and her manager, he was overwhelmed with emotion, and composed the Symphonie fantastique, to which he gave the subtitle ‘Episode in the Life of an Artist’, to exorcise his feelings of betrayal.
Berlioz’s original program tells of a young Musician who falls hopelessly in love with a woman who is everything he has ever dreamed of. He tries to go about his life in the normal way, going to dances and spending time in contemplation of calming rural scenes, but is obsessed by the image of his beloved and by the melody which invariably accompanies any thoughts of her.
This double idée fixe or obsession constantly intrudes on his peace of mind. Convinced that his love is unappreciated, he poisons himself with opium. The dose is not strong enough to kill him but in his drugged sleep he has nightmarish visions: he has killed his beloved and is led to the scaffold and beheaded; he sees himself at his own funeral, which becomes a grotesque devilish orgy in which his beloved takes part.
How important is this program? Clearly, it is linked to Berlioz’s own experience – yet none of the events it describes had actually occurred in his life. Berlioz was quite adamant that his art was intended to express ‘passions and feelings’, not paint pictures. The program is not a documentary to be judged on its accuracy, but a journey that Berlioz wanted his audience to take with him.
The symphony begins with the sighing of melancholy Daydreams alternating with flurries of ‘groundless joy’, until a sudden Beethoven-like outburst ushers in the Passions and the idée fixe melody which will recur throughout the work.
The second movement takes us to a ball, where the Musician catches sight of his beloved. The idée fixe appears twice – as a central episode in the movement’s rondo structure, and towards the end before the brilliant, swirling coda.
In the Fields begins with a duet between cor anglais and off-stage oboe: ‘two shepherds in the distance piping a shepherd’s song’. The idée fixe appears in the midst of passionate surges: ‘thoughts of happiness disturbed by dark forebodings’. The Musician’s loneliness is symbolised musically when the cor anglais finally takes up the shepherd’s song again and the oboe does not answer; ‘distant thunder’ from two sets of timpani brings the music to an uneasy close.
In the March to the Scaffold, sinister mutterings from the timpani finally erupt in a savage theme first beaten out by the cellos and double basses. Bassoons and then low strings weave a mocking counterpoint around it until the grotesque march theme bursts out over blaring pedal tones from the trombones. The idée fixe does not appear until the end of the movement, ‘like a last thought of love interrupted by the fatal stroke’. It is worth remembering that the guillotine was in Berlioz’s day no exotic historical curiosity, but rather a grim reality: the last public execution by guillotine in France was not until 1939.
Berlioz did not invent the idea of a Satanic orgy but he added another layer of meaning by giving the place of honour at the hellish dance to the ghost of the young Music ian’s beloved, whose idée fixe theme here appears encrusted with grace notes and trills of mocking laughter. Church bells sound and the Dies irae chant from the requiem mass is caught up in the demonic revelry. The dance theme becomes the subject of a fugue: combined with the Dies irae theme, the impression of sacrilegious revelry is complete.
Natalie Shea
Symphony Australia © 2002
First performance:
5 December 1830, Paris.
First WASO performance:
28-30 April 1951. Henry Krips, conductor.
Most recent WASO performance:
4-5 October 2019. Fabien Gabel, conductor.
Instrumentation:
two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes (one doubling cor anglais), two clarinets (one doubling E flat clarinet), four bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, two ophicleides (traditionally played by tubas), timpani, percussion, two harps, strings.
Glossary
Coda – a concluding section added to the basic structure of a piece or movement to emphasise the sense of finality.
Counterpoint – two or more independent lines of music or melodies that are played at the same time and make musical ‘sense’ when combined.
Rondo – a musical form where a main idea (refrain) alternates with a series of musical episodes.
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Meet the Musician
Brian Maloney - Principal Percussion
Tell us about your journey to WASO and your first performance with the Orchestra.
While I was doing my postgrad at the New England Conservatory in Boston, I saw an advertisement for the Principal Percussion position with WASO. I figured I’d try my luck - not knowing anything about WASO or even where Perth was on the map! Needless to say, I was amazed when I arrived a few months later. I found the Orchestra incredibly welcoming and I immediately realised the high calibre of the musical talent on stage amongst my colleagues.
My first performance with WASO was Winton Marsalis’s Swing Symphony accompanied by him and the musicians of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at the Perth Concert Hall. In a way it was the perfect transition to my time here in Perth because I got to work alongside both American and Australian colleagues in the same performance.
What are your favourite percussion instruments to play?
As cliché as it sounds, I really enjoy the variety that comes with being a percussionist, especially as a Principal whose duty it is to play as many of the various percussion instruments as required. One week I might be playing vibraphone in a contemporary work, the next week it could be cymbals in a Mahler Symphony, and after that it might be snare drum in a Star Wars film. I enjoy them all equally, although I do have to say cymbals hold a special place in my musical heart. The adrenaline rush that you get from playing a climactic cymbal crash at a pivotal moment in a musical work is almost indescribable.
You’re a prominent figure in both secondary and tertiary music education. What’s the best piece of advice you received as a student?
"Hard work will always win out over talent". It’s very easy to get discouraged when you’re young and inexperienced, especially when you’re surrounded by players who are seemingly better than you and are full of “natural talent”. But the irony is, that’s precisely how you get better. The only way to improve is to gain inspiration and knowledge from those more experienced than you and to work as hard - if not harder - than they do. With time and a strong sense of discipline anything is possible, particularly when it comes to music.
You’ve worked extensively in the USA, especially in Boston. How does the classical music scene in Perth differ to others you’ve experienced?
Because Perth is so geographically isolated, it actually works to our benefit here at WASO. I can think of very few other orchestras globally that have the luxury of being able to play the sheer variety of musical styles and genres that we play. Most orchestras tend to get pigeonholed into specific repertoire, whether it be ballet, opera, film music, symphonic music, pops gigs, etc. We’re tasked with playing all of it, all the time. It provides a real relief musically from week to week and also challenges us in a way that most other orchestras don’t experience.
You’re an avid outdoor enthusiast. What are your must-visit Perth spots to explore?
I’ve hiked all over WA, ranging from moderate walks to quite intense multi-day treks, but I’m always astounded at the quality of trails that are right in our own backyard. My go-to trails locally are Serpentine Falls and Lesmurdie Falls. Both are easy day trips out of Perth and offer a beautiful array of wildlife, especially during springtime. That being said, if its stunning scenery you’re after, the Bald Head Trail and Bluff Knoll, both just outside of Albany, offer world-class hikes that continue to leave me breathless every time I visit.
About WASO
Engage | Excite | Experience | Educate
From the centre of Perth to the furthest corners of the state, we have provided the soundtrack to life in WA since 1928.
As the State Orchestra, Perth’s first and finest, WASO is the largest employer of performing artists in Western Australia and reaches two million people with musical experiences each year on stage, in our community, and online.
From concert halls to classrooms, hospitals to aged care, we bring joy, inspire learning, and nurture participation in our community, because everybody deserves the opportunity to experience live music. Every year, through community and leading industry partnerships, we engage a new generation of young and emerging artists to help secure a bright future for music in Australia.
We celebrate our rich classical music heritage with great artists from all over the world and commission and perform new repertoire to renew and expand it.
The Orchestra collaborates widely with major arts companies and independent artists, performing opera to ballet, movies to musicals, jazz to rock. We champion the diversity of music in all its forms, with a team of talented and passionate people who create unforgettable experiences for all West Australians to enjoy.
Asher Fisch is Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of our Orchestra and we are proud to call Perth Concert Hall home.
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Your Concert Experience
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- Explore the music
Be sure to take a quick look at the performance schedule or enjoy a deep dive into the music with your concert program online or in the foyer. - Share with your friends
Snap a selfie from your seat, capture the artist bows and share the experience with friends. Don’t forget to tag us! #wasymphonyorchestra - Clap with enthusiasm
Whether you are welcoming your favourite artist to the stage, or showing appreciation at the end of a piece, we love thunderous applause. Not sure when to clap? Here’s a tip; if the conductor’s arm is raised, hold it. If it’s relaxed, go for it! - Respect those around you
Ensure your mobile phone is on silent and does not disrupt the experience of those around you. If you need to cough or sneeze, please do this into your elbow. Cough lozenges are available from the Information
Desk located on Level 1. Masks are welcome but not required. - Accessible services available
For information about our services such as assisted listening and accessible toilets please search “Perth Concert Hall Access” online. - Latecomers admitted at a suitable time
If you arrive late or leave your seat during a performance, your auditorium entry will need to wait until a suitable break. - Drinks and nibbles
The Wardle Kitchen is open for casual dining, serving delicious hot meals before each performance, while our Grab and Go stations offer quick bites such as sushi and sandwiches. Bars are available on the first two levels, and you are welcome to bring your cold drink into the auditorium. - First Aid available
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Get tickets to your next WASO experience at the Box Office located on the ground floor (Level 1). Our Box Office is open one hour prior to each performance, and during interval, or you can email us anytime at boxoffice@waso.com.au. You can also visit us Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
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WASO in the Community
Romeo and Juliet UWA Side-by-Side and Creative Development
The Perth Concert Hall recently welcomed over 750 patrons to immerse themselves in an exciting musical exploration and reimagination of Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, performed by WASO musicians and students from the UWA Conservatorium of Music, and led by WASO Education Artist-in-Residence, Paul Rissmann.
UWA students and WASO musicians spent an intensive week working with Paul to create, compose, improvise and experiment with aspects of Prokofiev’s original score in the development of their new work. The Creative Ensemble reimagined themes from characters and crucial moments in the story, filled with emotion. The creative experience culminated with the combined forces of the UWA Symphony Orchestra and WASO unveiling their world premiere alongside Prokofiev’s seminal ballet score.
Rissmann said of the experience;
“The creative process involves reducing a massive, complex score to just a handful of key elements. Then, through a series of workshops, using those elements as seeds from which we can grow new material. The participants embark on a creative journey which challenges them to work
in a completely different way. This project certainly isn’t like a normal day at Uni or at WASO, and that requires massive amounts of trust. Especially since everything we make has to be memorised and performed unconducted. It’s a bit like the most intense chamber music project imaginable – except that the group have to compose their own music too. The icing on the cake with these projects is that I get to work with the very brilliant Jen Winley. Jen runs a parallel project where a side-by-side orchestra of UWA and WASO musicians prepare to play our source work. And then, magically our new music gets interwoven with the original score. Somehow, all of that happens in the space of single week.”
WASO Associate Conductor, Jen Winley, joined the UWA Symphony Orchestra for three rehearsals prior to the performance week to workshop and prepare students for their professional experience sitting side by side with a WASO musician. Jen guided the students through the style and characteristics of Prokofiev’s work and interpretation of Shakespeare’s work, as well as rehearsal practice, intonation and technique.
The final performance was an outstanding sharing of skills, musical ideas and exciting new music, bringing forth the invigorating energy of Prokofiev’s original score, alongside the bold musical ideas of the creative development.
“My eldest son’s favourite classical piece was played and he was enthralled. Many, many thanks for making a live classical music performance accessible to all!”
– Romeo and Juliet with Paul Rissmann audience member.
UWA is the Tertiary Education Partner of WASO.
Jen Winley is supported by the Simon Lee Foundation and JACE Foundation.
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Philanthropy
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As a not-for-profit organisation, we rely on the generosity of individuals as well as ticket sales to thrive. Through the support of our WASO family, we are able to bring joyful and inspiring performances to the West Australian community.
When you donate to WASO, you become part of a family unified by a love of music. From just $40 per year, you can join our Giving Circles and develop a closer connection with your Orchestra at exclusive rehearsals and events featuring our musicians.
For more information or to pledge your support, please call the Philanthropy team on (08) 9326 0016 or visit our website.
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Our Supporters
2024 Trusts and Foundations
Lead Partner of Crescendo
Crescendo / Hospital Orchestra Project
First Nations Creative Collaborations / Composition Project
Associate Conductor Program
About the Speaker
WASO Recommends
If you enjoyed tonight's concert, we think you'll love:
Mahler 8
A work of imaginative genius, Mahler’s monumental Symphony is a joyous celebration of the creative spirit and an uplifting, exultant testament to eternal love and our shared humanity.
Performed for the first time in Western Australia, this astonishing sonic spectacle is a once-in-a-generation concert experience.
Calling for huge orchestral forces, massed choirs, and a host of exceptional soloists, the sheer magnitude of this unparalleled music will leave an indelible mark on your soul.
Don’t miss these awe-inspiring performances of a legendary masterpiece.
Asher Fisch appears courtesy of Wesfarmers Arts.
This concert is presented by West Australian Symphony Orchestra in association with Australian National Academy of Music, Aquinas College Schola Cantorum, WA Opera Chorus, UWA Symphonic Chorus and Voyces.
Mahler 8 is supported by Alan Whitham.
Fri 13 & Sat 14 September 2024, 7.30pm
Perth Concert Hall
2024 Corporate Partners
Principal Partner
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Beverage Partners
To share in our vision and discuss the many opportunities extended through corporate partnerships please contact Corporate Development on 08 9326 0020.
