BSO to bring brilliant music

THE Bendigo Symphony Orchestra has been busily rehearsing for the third performance of its annual series in September, which will feature an extraordinary array of central Victorian musicians and composers.

The Bravo Bendigo concert will include bassoonist John Matthews’ take on three of Claude Debussy’s most popular works, which he has arranged into a breathtaking medley.

The Orchestra is also set to perform composer and cellist Cally Bartlett’s Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, which was commissioned by the orchestra and premiered in 2021.

The concert will finish with Saint-Saens’ Symphony No. 3 – The Organ, with one of the finest organ virtuosos in the world, Thomas Heywood, joining as guest.

BSO acting president Catherine Moore said it’s an exciting time.

“Back in the day the most we would have at a concert would be 100 people,” she said. “Now we’re (regularly) playing to about 800 so it makes a huge difference.

“We’re bringing this music to a whole new range of Bendigo people and they’re really enjoying it.

“It’s thrilling for them to see people they know playing brilliant music in a brilliant venue. They could be your teacher, they could be your doctor. It really does belong to this community.

“We have enormous pride in the orchestra, and we’re finding that a lot of our audiences have enormous pride in it too.”

Bravo Bendigo will take place at Ulumbarra Theatre on Sunday 8 September from 2.30pm. Tickets can be purchased on the Gotix website.