Sounds of summer

Christmas seems like a distant memory; New Year's has come and gone but our beautiful Perth summer is something to be savoured. It’s the perfect time to get out of the house and experience all that our incredible city has to offer – our enviable beaches, mild weather, great food and of course your West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

WASO returns for 2020 with conductor Ben Northey bringing the sunny, unstoppable good vibes to Perth Concert Hall, leading WASO and special guests through a concert program bursting with classical hits.

The perfect antidote to those post-holiday blues, let’s take a sneak peek at some of the program of WASO’s Summer Classics -

BERLIOZ
Roman Carnival – Overture

Composed in 1844 and premiering in Paris the same year, Roman Carnival was based on themes from Berlioz's opera Benvenuto Cellini.

Although the opera was considered a flop, Roman Carnival is one of Berlioz’s most popular pieces.

VIVALDI
The Four Seasons: Summer

Arguably Vivaldi’s best-known work, The Four Seasons was composed as four separate violin concertos, each depicting one of the seasons in the year.

Each concerto contains three movements, each with a tempo of fast-slow-fast.

PIAZZOLLA
Adiós Nonino

A beautiful example of emotion poured into music, Adiós Nonino was written in memory of Piazzolla’s father Vicente in 1958.

It was Vincente who first encouraged Piazzolla to take up music having bought him a bandoneon in a pawn shop. The eight-year-old was excited to receive the gift at first assuming the box contained his much-wanted roller skates, “It was a letdown because instead of a pair of skates, I found an artefact I had never seen before in my life. Dad sat down, set it on my legs, and told me, ‘Astor, this is the instrument of tango. I want you to learn it.’

RAVEL
Boléro

The piece was completed within five months, which for Maurice Ravel’s standards was considered quick.

During Boléro’s debut in 1928, a woman was heard to shout “The Madman” from the audience. Ravel’s response to this? “That lady, she understood!”