West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s (WASO) 2024 season is full of some of classical music’s most iconic works, a gala concert of Mahler’s ‘Symphony Of A Thousand’, and a new mini-series, Spring Fest.
Season highlights include Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 ‘Choral’, and Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’, Mozart’s ‘Requiem’, Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’, Berlioz’s ‘Symphonie fantastique’, Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and selections from Wagner’s ‘Ring’ cycle, and many more.
There are also some new faces WASO is welcoming in 2024 – international conductors Alpesh Chauhan, Dalia Stasevska and Dmitry Matvienko make their WASO debuts. Plus, audience favourites Umberto Clerici, Fabien Gabel and Vasily Petrenko make welcome returns to Perth and Principal Conductor/Artistic Adviser Asher Fisch commences his 11th year at the helm.
Guest soloists include pianists Lukáš Vondráček, Yeol Eum Son, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Alexandra Dariescu and Konstantin Shamray; violinists Francesca Dego, Karen Gomyo and Clara Jumi-Kang; cellist Alban Gerhardt; and vocal soloists from Western Australia and around the world.
World premiere WASO commissions across the year include concertos from Lachlan Skipworth and Holly Harrison, alongside new works from James Ledger and WASO Composer In Residence Olivia Davies. Nicholas Kyriakacis, the winner of WASO’s 2023 Composition Project, will compose a new work for family concert ‘Wild Animals’.
Then, to mark the orchestra’s final performance in Perth Concert Hall before mini-series Spring Fest, WASO will perform Mahler’s iconic Eighth, the 'Symphony Of A Thousand', in an experience never seen in Western Australia. The gala brings together a massed choir featuring the WASO Chorus, UWA Symphonic Chorus, St George’s Cathedral Consort, Voyces, and Aquinas College Schola Cantorum, eight soloists and a 100-piece orchestra with musicians of the Australian National Academy of Music performing side-by-side with WASO under the baton of Asher Fisch.
The mini-series Spring Fest will highlight the works of Mozart and Brahms.
Each year, WASO At The Movies sees the orchestra playing some of the world’s greatest film soundtracks live, as the movies play overhead. In 2024, the ‘James Bond’ journey continues as they play ’Spectre In Concert’, the ‘Star Wars’ universe is revisited in ‘The Force Awakens In Concert’, and Disney lovers rejoice for ‘Frozen In Concert’.
It doesn’t stop there – movie music fans can enjoy ‘The Music Of Hans Zimmer’, featuring music from ‘Interstellar’, ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’, ‘The Lion King’ and more.
Check out the full programme.
