Orchestral music set to take centre stage

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra headed to the region this month

It has been a performance more than two years in the making when the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO) converges on Mount Gambier on February 23 and 24 for a series of free school concerts and a public performance.

Regional tours had been on hold but the ASO (pictured right) was able to get back on the road at the end of last year to Peterborough and Mount Gambier is one of two regional tours scheduled for 2023, with the second regional visit set down for August to a location yet to be determined.

It means, students who worked on the 2020 Silos and Symphonies program to develop orchestral works will see those works hit the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre stage for the February 24 night public performance.

Millicent High School’s Turn of the Lone Wanderer and St Martins Lutheran College’s homage to the Blue Lake, Deep Blue were developed collaboratively with composers Adam Page and Hilary Kleinig but when thew program was forced online due to COVID, students never got to hear the magnitude of their creations. The homegrown works will form the centrepiece of a jam packed program that will include Dvořák’s Carnival Overture, the endless joy of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, as well as Strauss’ famous Blue Danube waltz.

The Friday night concert will be preceded by a series of free school concerts – two concerts in the morning at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre and one in the afternoon at the Millicent Civic & Arts Centre.

ASO Manager, Learning and Community Programs Maxine Lee-Morath said they were thrilled to be back engaging with the community and giving school students a taste of orchestral music.

“We are already almost at full capacity for all the free school concerts,” Maxine said. “And it is great to have so many of the smaller schools represented where maybe only a few of the students learn a musical instrument – this gives them a chance to hear how it can all come together.”

The Millicent concert came about due to community demand, which is another gratifying development for the ASO. “To have a town ask us to come and give their students a chance to hear this type of music is amazing,” Maxine said. “We just love getting out into the community and providing access to high quality orchestral music and performance, especially in areas where they don’t have access to that kind of music on a regular basis.”

The ASO staffer, though, was well aware of the strong musical culture in the Limestone Coast, citing Generations in Jazz and the Limestone Coast Symphony Orchestra (pictured below left) as key factors in continuing to drive a love of music in the community. Hot on the heels of the string section of the Limestone Coast Symphony Orchestra performing a pre-show concert at last year’s State Opera production Love Burns, the same group will again provide pre-show entertainment for the ASO’s Friday, February 24, performance.

Limestone Coast Symphony Orchestra performer Jennie Matthews said the group had continued getting together following the State Opera gig and were thrilled, as the inresidence orchestra for the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre, to have another opportunity to showcase the orchestra.

“We are taking some of the repertoire of Love Burns and added a few more works,” Jennie said, of the February 24 performance that will run from 6.45pm-7.20pm.

Along with some more eclectic selections, the ensemble will play Gershwin, Scott Joplin and the Simon & Garfunkel classic The Sounds of Silence.

Around 14 members of the full orchestra have been attending the weekend rehearsals as the group has again managed to attract some new members courtesy of new arrivals in town. Of course once the curtain has fallen on this month’s ASO performance, it will be full steam ahead for the full orchestra under the baton of Angus Christie as they prepare for their usual mid year season, while a third term concert is also being added to the 2023 season with a focus on the music of stage and screen.

“We hope that will get people a bit more interested,” Jennie said. Trish Bruggemann will take charge of that program, with hopes high some dancers will be incorporated into the performance.

Tickets for the ASO performance are available from the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre box office or head online to book your seat.