Mayhem and Rapture
UNDERGROUND SERIES
Friday 2 & Saturday 28 February 2026, 7.30pm
Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA
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
Mayhem and Rapture
Holly HARRISON And Whether Pigs Have Wings (10 mins)
John ADAMS Chamber Symphony (23 mins)
I. Mongrel Airs
II. Aria with Walking Bass
III. Roadrunner
Interval (25 mins)
Osvaldo GOLIJOV Ayre (40 mins)
- Mananita de San Juan
- Y Una Madre Comió Asado
- Tancas Serradas a Muru
- Luna
- Nani
- Wa Habibi
- Aiini Taqtiru
- Be a string, water, to my guitar
- Suéltate las Cintas
- Yah, Annah
- Ariadna en su Laberinto
Benjamin Northey conductor
Jessica Aszodi mezzo-soprano
Presented in association with Perth Festival.
Listen to WASO
This performance is recorded for broadcast on Thursday 19 March, 1pm (AWST) on ABC Classic. Date subject to change. For further details visit abc.net.au/classic.
WASO On Stage
About the Artists
Benjamin Northey
Conductor
Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Conductor in Residence of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, he was appointed Professor of Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Director of the Australian Conducting Academy.
Northey studied conducting at Finland's Sibelius Academy with Professors Leif Segerstam and Atso Almila, after being accepted as the highest placed applicant in 2002. He completed his studies at the Stockholm Royal College of Music with Jorma Panula in 2006.
Northey appears regularly as a guest conductor with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia (La bohème, Turandot, L'elisir d'amore, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera (Sweeney Todd), Victorian Opera (Candide, Into the Woods), and the State Opera South Australia (La sonnambula, L’elisir d’amore, Les contes d’Hoffmann).
His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Northey has collaborated with a broad range of leading artists including Lang Lang, Pinchas Zukerman, Wynton Marsalis, Maxim Vengerov, Anne-Sofie von Otter, Paul Grabowsky, Tim Minchin, k.d. Lang, Megan Washington, Barry Humphries, and Tori Amos.
Northey is highly active in the performance and recording of new Australian orchestral music, having premiered dozens of major new works by Australian composers.
An ARIA Awards winner, he was voted Limelight Magazine's Australian Artist of the Year in 2018. Northey's many recordings can be found on ABC Classics. In 2026, he conducts the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, West Australian, Tasmanian and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras and returns to the Pittsburgh Symphony – to conduct Winton Marsalis in his All Rise programme.
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About the Artists
Jessica Aszodi
Mezzo-Soprano
Jessica Aszodi is a mezzo-soprano, writer, educator and performer. Jessica’s work crosses between opera, experimental music, improvisation, composition, and music theatre. Her unusually wide and flexible range makes it possible to perform repertoire across genres and voice types. From Mozart, to Mahler, to Berio, Boulez and popular music styles, she has built up a truly idiosyncratic set of techniques. Jessica has cycled while singing on the stage of the Royal Festival Hall, performed body percussion so fierce it leaves a mark, and mastered a not small number of extremely extended vocal techniques. She has twice been nominated for Greenroom Awards as ‘best female operatic performer’ - in both the leading and supporting categories.
Jessica has performed as a soloist with opera houses and ensembles around the world including the London Sinfonietta, Wiener Volksoper, Nederlands Reisoper, Hamburg Staatsoper, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, ICE, Pinchgut Opera, the Tirolean Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, and in the San Diego and Chicago Symphony Orchestras chamber series. Her Festival appearances include the Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals, Darmstadt, Aldeburgh, Tectonics, Tanglewood, Klangspuren, Beethoven Festwoche, Resonant Bodies, Vivid Sydney, Aspen and BIFEM. A passionate exponent of new work, she has performed important premieres by collaborators including Liza Lim, Augusta Read Thomas, Dai Fujkura, Anthony Pateras, Cathy Milliken and Laura Bowler.
Jessica also holds a Doctorate from the Queensland Conservatorium, and continues an artistic research and teaching practice focused on the materiality and politics of embodiment practices in the creation of new vocal performance. She has written articles for several books and journals and teaches workshops on the bodily as well as theoretical applications of her research. She takes pleasure in the process of creating thick, touching, thinking, pieces.
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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 stages 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.
Asher Fisch is Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of our Orchestra. 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.
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Your Concert Experience
Get the best out of your concert at Studio Underground.
- 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. - Accessible services available
For information about our services such as assisted hearing, lifts and accessible toilets, please ask one of our friendly front of house team members. - 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. - First Aid available
St John First Aid officers are present at every WASO concert. Please notify a team member if you require any first aid assistance. - Box Office is open
Get tickets to your next WASO experience at the Box Office located in the Main Foyer of the State Theatre Centre of WA. The Box Office is open from 9am on the day of performance. Alternatively, you can visit waso.com.au to buy online or book an in person ticketing appointment by calling (08) 9326 0000.
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Comfort and Joy at Christmas
WASO had double the community fun in December with not one but two community Christmas concerts.
Joined by seventeen WASO musicians, Crescendo Lead Lauren Ashlea Fraser presented a cheerful and festive Christmas concert to the younger Crescendo students from Medina Primary School and North Parmelia Primary School. This concert was organised in collaboration with City of Kwinana and included classic ballads like Silent Night and Away in a Manger, as well as modern hits like All I Want for Christmas is You.
The following day, the same group performed in a tinsel covered auditorium for the children, families, and staff at the Perth Children’s Hospital as part of WASO’s Hospital Orchestra Project (HOP). This performance also included a morning ward visit from Assistant Concertmaster, Semra Lee, and Principal 2nd Violin, Zak Rowntree, to children who were unable to make it to the main performance, as well as an atrium performance by the WASO Chorus. After the concert, children in the audience were given musical instruments and bon-bons as special Christmas gifts to take away. The performance was described by audience members as a “Fabulous initiative”, “joyous & community oriented”, and “beyond wonderful!!!”.
HOP continues this year with the first ward visits scheduled for February.
HOP is generously supported by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation and presented in partnership with the School of Special Educational Needs: Medical & Mental Health (Department of Education) and Starlight Children’s Foundation.
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Supporting WASO
Music has long been a place where extremes meet – chaos and calm, darkness and light. Mayhem and Rapture explores these contrasts, offering an experience that is visceral, immersive and unforgettable. Bringing performances of this scale and ambition to the stage is only possible through the shared commitment of artists, audiences and supporters.
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra is proud to be part of a community that believes in the power of live music to provoke thought, spark emotion, and create connection. Philanthropic support allows WASO to push creative boundaries, present challenging repertoire, and invest in the future of orchestral music in Western Australia.
By supporting WASO, you help ensure that daring programs like tonight’s continue to resonate with audiences now and for generations to come.
To find out more about supporting the orchestra, please contact the WASO Philanthropy team on (08) 9326 0016 or visit our website.
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Our Supporters
