A Decade in the Making with Andrew Schultz

Now, the multi-award-winning, genre-crossing composer is reuniting with the Orchestra for his first full symphony in over ten years – aptly premiering on World Music Day!

Ahead of the concert, we spoke to Andrew about what inspired his first symphony in over a decade, his childhood in regional Australia, and the evolution of his compositional approach.

We’re thrilled to be giving the world premiere of your latest work, Symphony No.4! How does it feel to be reuniting with WASO for these performances and what are you looking forward to about your time in Perth?

I have loved the two previous experiences of working with WASO on new works, with my Maali (2017) and Bassoon Concerto (2023). The level of preparation from soloists, the Orchestra and conductors was impeccable, and that made my life during the rehearsals and performance very relaxed and enjoyable. I am very grateful to the artistic support of WASO and to the commissioning support of Geoff Stearn.

How and where did your musical journey begin?

I started piano lessons as a child and then took up clarinet and composing as teenager. I always loved listening to music and improvising on the piano. For me, there was immediately a very strong emotional and physical connection to music I loved to hear and play. Somewhere along the line in my teens I got the bug, and by the time I finished school music had chosen itself for me.

You grew up in regional Australia. How do you feel that upbringing shaped you as a composer?

It’s not easy to untangle all the things in life that influence you along the way, but if I have two recollections of childhood that have stuck with me, they would be the tremendous sense of joy and freedom I felt as child alone on a bicycle on quiet country roads, and climbing in the old, windbreak pine trees along the lanes of Western Victoria. Moving with my family as an 11-year-old to suburban Brisbane was a shock to the system but opened doors for me educationally and musically.

Can you explain the concept behind your newest symphony? What inspired the work?

It is over ten years since my last symphony. My Fourth Symphony is the first I have written where I have not given the work a subtitle. This new work has four quite contrasting movements - the first is spacious, dramatic and reflective; the second joyful, wild and fast; the third movement is lyrical, gentle and tender; and the fourth is playful and ironic and, by turns, even grotesque and dance-like. I hope the emotional and musical range will amount to a very satisfying and complete experience.

You’ve written for most genres – large-scale symphonies to chamber works, and even opera. Do you have a favourite style of music to compose?

I enjoy writing for orchestra most of all - the endless possibilities and the communicative power are immense. In a note for an earlier work, Once Upon a Time… I wrote the following and it still shapes my approach:

“Opening a door on an orchestra playing is, to me, a step into a magical realm. A world in which fantastic and endless possibilities are at work just as much as in the enchanted forests of fairy tales. Stories – abstract or simple, familiar or unknown – are told in this space. Dreams unfold and are crushed, characters ridiculous and sublime strut the stage, the tragic and the bizarre are juxtaposed, and the heroic and the desolate stand together. And all of this in a language that is ineffable and mysterious yet absolutely powerful and direct. Meaningful and meaningless at once. Amazingly, the story is different for every pair of ears that hears.”

How has the way you think about music changed over your lifetime?

In surprisingly few ways. The outward language has adapted and changed, just as fashions come and go, but the underpinning approach and ideas are the same. My early experiences as a listener and musician made me very conscious of the physical properties of sound and how deeply they impact the listening mind. I think if you begin from that standpoint then anything you do is done to achieve a particular artistic and communicative goal. The tools may change but the aim is constant.

I’m sometimes surprised when I look back and see a deeper level of similarity within my works than the surface might suggest. I would say that as I’ve gone along I have definitely become more focused on polishing ideas and stripping out anything that doesn’t need to be in a piece. It is a great maxim for me that it’s often what you leave out, not what you put in, that matters most. Listening is as important as making!

Lastly, in 5 words, what can audiences expect from these performances of your Symphony No.4?

Brilliant players exploring something new.

Glorious Nights
Friday 20 & Saturday 21 June, 7.30pm
Winthrop Hall, UWA

Andrew Schultz’s Symphony No.4 commissioned for WASO by Geoff Stearn.