BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Every orchestra in the 21st Century faces the same challenge: how do you launch a concert season that will appeal to loyal audiences while attracting new ones? And how do you satisfy a variety of musical tastes while staying true to your own identity as an orchestra?
It can take trial and error, and sometimes it requires the creation of entirely new initiatives, from restructuring the time or duration of live performances to supporting emerging talent and new Australian compositions.
Willoughby Symphony Orchestra places the challenge at the core of its programming, and listened to its own audience’s feedback when designing a 2027 season that could offer something for everyone while continuing to express its long-held artistic values.
Chief conductor and artistic director Professor Dr Nicholas Milton AM (above) — who has a four-decade association with the orchestra, and has stood at the helm since 2001 — speaks from his experience when he describes what makes a successful concert season.
“I think of programming rather like creating a wonderfully constructed meal: each ingredient needs to have its own character, but the combination should produce something greater than the individual parts.”
So what is being produced in 2027? It starts with an audience-focused approach for WSO, which honours old and new compositions, and old and new ways of accessing the live performances.
“We want to give our audiences the great works they love, but also introduce them to music and artistic experiences that perhaps they have not encountered before,” Nicholas shares with CutCommon.
Much in the way that it’s hard to get over your favourite song, WSO knows that long-time favourite composers such as Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky still play an important role in satisfying the tastes of a broad number of listeners. So their works be presented alongside “some of the great iconic works of the repertoire” including Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
But the season also features music that will be less familiar to audiences and, in some instances, heard for the very first time with career-launching events for new Australian composers. This presents a positive challenge to both orchestra and concertgoer, and it’s one that often succeeds when their needs work synergistically. A balanced program, Nicholas says, should ensure “every individual concert has its own identity and purpose”.
“That means bringing together works from the established canon with compelling music that may be less familiar to our audiences, and creating interesting connections between them.”
Some of these connections are made through an intentionally designed musical narratives that forge connections between works and across time. There’s a “sense of journey” for the audience in Sea and Stars, which features Beethoven’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage alongside Vaughan Williams’ composition Toward the Unknown Region.
Significantly, it also features Australian composer Melody Eötvös’ Hic Svnt Dracones (Here Be Dragons), the world premiere of Australian composer Belinda Blades’ While It Lasts, and the winner of the orchestra’s Young Composer Award for 2027. This concert program is developed with “both a sense of adventure and a wonderful breadth of sound”.
In Highland Cathedral, connections between place, instrument, and musical tradition are expressed. Scottish composer James MacMillan’s Saxophone Concerto was composed in 2018 for Australian virtuoso Amy Dickson, and bagpipers also play as guest artists in this “distinctive musical occasion”.
“They are not simply performances; they are occasions for the community we serve to come together, to share an experience, and to be enriched by the power, beauty and joy of live music.”
When Nicholas speaks about connection in a concert program, this also includes connections between the people who become part of the WSO experience: its musicians, listeners, guest artists, and collaborators that together make the year’s season. Talented guest artists are carefully chosen for their artistry, and their well-respected status as composers or instrumentalists. “But virtuosity on its own is not enough,” Nicholas believes.
“I love working with soloists who communicate, who listen, who take risks and who become genuine musical partners with the orchestra.
“The best collaborations have a wonderful sense of discovery: the soloist and orchestra are responding to each other in real time, and creating something that feels alive and unique to that performance.”
In the 2027 season, guest artists such as Amy Dickson as well as pianist Konstantin Shamray, brass virtuoso Dominic Longhurst, and violinist Rosa Donata Milton will contribute to that sentiment, which is echoed in the orchestra’s motto: “Experience the Extraordinary.”
“They include some of Australia’s most accomplished and respected instrumentalists and composers, and they are artists from whom our own musicians can learn as well as audiences can be inspired.”
One of the most exciting guest artists in the 2027 season is yet to be named: the next winner of the WSO’s Young Composer Award will be announced and will have their composition professionally recorded and performed.
This award ties into the core of the orchestra’s programming and its role as a creative pillar of its community – one that supports emerging voices, and provides career opportunities that will empower them to continue shaping the Australian music of our time.
“For a young composer, that practical experience – working with an accomplished orchestra and conductor, and hearing your music come alive in a concert hall – can be transformative,” Nicholas says.
The award has flourished for more than two decades, showing that a successful concert season can be built on the knowledge that audiences are willing to take risks in listening to music they’ve never heard, especially when they support where it comes from.
“We have enormous respect for the great composers of the past, but an orchestra also has a responsibility to help create the musical culture of the future,” Nicholas says.
“Giving a young Australian composer the chance to hear their orchestral work performed by a live symphony orchestra is one of the most meaningful things we can do in that regard.”
WSO associate conductor Dr Sarah Penicka-Smith (in the featured image above) will lead the world premiere event.
The ability to access WSO’s guest artists, orchestra, and concert programs is just as important as choosing the music itself. Not everybody has the same needs when it comes to experiencing live music, and an orchestra’s concert season should represent that fact by providing varied options for everyone to be able to engage.
In 2027, the orchestra launches a 5pm twilight concert, as well as 50-minute events and family offerings, increasing accessibility across different stages of life and needs for audiences.
“We want people to feel that orchestral music belongs to them. Accessibility is not simply about shortening a concert or changing a start time; it is about creating an experience that feels welcoming, engaging, and relevant to as many people as possible.”
Nicholas says the WSO’s subscriber base is growing, and in turn, they’re listening to what audiences want and responding directly to feedback. It’s how they designed the Opera Gala and Highland Cathedral to start at 5pm instead of 7pm, a tangible change that gives listeners what they want: “the opportunity to enjoy a major orchestral experience earlier in the evening.”
“Our two new Family Concerts – Rosie the Clown Joins the Orchestra and Firebird for Families – take that philosophy further,” Nicholas says, opening the door to new audiences alongside returning listeners.
“These one-hour weekend performances are designed to introduce children and families to the excitement of a live orchestra in an atmosphere that is welcoming and enjoyable for everyone.”
Returning to an idea that a successful season should produce something greater than the sum of its parts, all of the elements of WSO’s 2027 season combine to produce – in the words of Nicholas –“that shared sense of purpose”.
“Above all, we are an orchestral family. The musicians, our audience, and the wonderful team at Willoughby City Council share a commitment to creating performances that are thrilling and emotionally engaging, while enriching the community around us.”
To explore the full Willoughby Symphony Orchestra 2027 season and for more information on the 2027 Young Composer Award, visit the WSO website.
Images supplied.
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