2025 Concerts

JENNY BOUNDS YOUNG COMPOSER PRIZE

BORODIN POLOVTSIAN DANCES

KHACHATURIAN ADAGIO from “Spartacus and Phrygia”

SAINT-SAËNS INTRODUCTION and RONDO CAPRICCIOSO

BRAHMS SYMPHONY No.2

Lara Dowdeswell Violin

Paul Terracini Conductor

Originally conceived as part of a larger operatic score, the Polovtsian Dances present an exhilarating spectacle for orchestra, followed by the soaring Romanticism of Khachaturian.

Lara Dowdeswell appears as soloist in Saint-Saëns mellifluous and virtuosic violin showpiece, the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso dazzles with its technical acrobatics and lyricism in equal measure.

Grandly pastoral but with darkness ever lurking, Brahms second symphony was written over the summer of 1877, during a stay at the picturesque lakeside town of Pörtschach. This elegant and complex work brims with melody and emotion.

BEETHOVEN EGMONT OVERTURE

WSU COMPOSER PRIZE 

BRUCH CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND VIOLA

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY No.2

Marina Marsden Violin

Justine Marsden Viola

Paul Terracini Conductor

The heroic and expressive Egmont Overture opens a program of refined classics featuring Beethoven’s second symphony, its music bursting with restless energy and angst as the composer grappled with ever increasing hearing loss.

Autumnal and lushly romantic, Bruch’s double concerto evokes a warm nostalgia, taking listeners on a momentary 19^th Century Idyll.

WILLIAMS Star Wars Suite

WILLIAMS Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Suite

HISAISHI Symphonic Suite “Spirited Away”

SHORE Lord of the Rings Suite

Paul Terracini Conductor

Heroes, myths and legends abound as PSO presents a cinema epic of four complete film suites, featuring some of the greatest music from the biggest blockbusters of all time.

Journey a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, with two scores from legendary composer for the big-screen, John Williams.

Joe Hisaishi’s evocative score for Spirited Away features, before Howard Shore’s majestic writing for Lord of the Rings.

SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No.5

DEBUSSY Prélude à l’aprés-midi d’un faune

STRAVINSKY Firebird Suite

Kian Chan Piano

Paul Terracini Conductor

An exotic fairy tale of mystical romanticism and brilliant orchestration, Stravinsky’s Firebird is the centrepiece of a kaleidoscopic program, also featuring the bravura showpiece of Saint-Saëns fifth piano concerto.

The languid sensuality and subtle hues of Debussy’s dreamy masterpiece, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun marked a modernist turning point with its premiere in 1894.