Painted Rainbows
7:30PM Friday 28 September, Elder Hall, University of Adelaide
Conductor - Bryan Griffiths
Piano - Simón Pazos Quintana
Christopher Sainsbury - The magic of this dawn
Leoš Janáček - Capriccio for piano left-hand and chamber ensemble
Yukiko Nishimura - Smiling after the rain
David Bedford - Sun paints rainbows on the vast waves
The symphonic wind ensemble paints rainbows through the use of modern orchestration and novel combinations of instruments. Similarly how light interacts with the landscape affects our perception and understanding of the environment, depending on our position and time of day. These combinations provide different opportunities to experience beauty from the world and the symphonic wind ensemble. Referencing poetry, both Christopher Sainsbury's The magic of this dawn and David Bedford's Sun paints rainbows on the vast waves are abstract yet evocative, describing the interaction of the sun and the landscape. In the more literal sense, Yukiko Nishimura's Smiling after the rain also seeks to describe the rainbow in musical terms and the feeling of happiness that comes from this natural phenomenon.
Simón Pazos Quintana joins AWO to perform the extraordinary Capriccio, written by Czech composer Leoš Janáček who wrote it for pianist, Otakar Hollmann, who lost the use of his right hand in World War One.
Mysterium
7:30PM Saturday 9 November, Elder Hall, University of Adelaide
Conductor - Bryan Griffiths
Organ - Joshua van Konkelenberg
Jennifer Higdon - Mysterium
Stuart Greenbaum - The Gradual Slowing of the Earth
David Maslanka - Symphony No. 4
"A tribute to the wonderful mystery of how music moves us. Perhaps it is the unexplainable that creates such magic, for both the performer and the listener, but there is no denying the incredible power of a shared musical experience" - Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon's Mysterium is her own arrangement of the sacred choral work, O Magnum Mysterium, and beautifully links the original content of the music, which marvels at the birth of the saviour but also the wonderful mystery of music.
Joshua van Konkelenberg joins AWO to perform the organ concerto by Stuart Greenbaum, The Gradual Slowing of the Earth. This concerto for organ and symphonic winds is written in contemplation of a ‘global slow-down’. It’s an unsettling idea – but apparently it also allows gravity to pull the planet’s shape into an ever more perfect sphere.
David Maslanka's Symphony No. 4 is as close to a Mahler-ian epic as exists for the symphonic wind ensemble. AWO originally gave the Australian Premiere of this work in 2014 and we are delighted to perform it ten years later. Maslanka was a highly spiritual composer, as well as being prolific and brilliant. Throughout the work he references both the voice of the Earth whilst hymns such as 'Old Hundred' as the backbone of the work as it stirs to it's epic finale.
Journey to Korea
7:30PM Saturday 6 July, Elder Hall, University of Adelaide
Conductor - Bryan Griffiths
Holly Harrison - Splinter
Frank Ticheli - Folksongs from Jeju Island
David John Lang - Stephen
Connor Fogarty - Symphony
Send us off in style as we celebrate Australian music on the world stage.
AWO is proud to have been among a very limited number of ensembles worldwide to be selected to perform at the 20th International Conference of the World Association of Symphonic Bands & Ensembles in Gwangju, South Korea, in July 2024. Our goal is to showcase the artistic practice of Australian on the world stage including new works by living Australian composers such as Martin Cheney, Anne Cawrse, David John Lang, Connor Fogarty, and Holly Harrison. This concert is a preview performance and a chance for our Adelaide audience to celebrate with us before we depart.
Frank Ticheli's Folksongs from Jeju Island was commissioned by the Organizing Committee of the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival and provides connection to the rich musical history and folksongs of South Korea.
Australian Concertos
7:30PM Saturday 8 June
Elder Hall, University of Adelaide
Emma Gregan, Horn, and Lloyd Van't Hoff, Clarinet
Elder Conservatorium Heads of Brass and Woodwind perform two new Australian Concertos with Adelaide's leading wind bands.
Unley Concert Band - Conducted by Colin Prichard
Catherine Likhuta - Sure-Fire : Concerto for horn and wind-band
Adelaide Wind Orchestra - Conducted by Bryan Griffiths
Anne Cawrse - Sunburst
Martin Cheney - like the very heaven for clearness: Concerto for clarinet and wind ensemble (preview performance)