Cover image: Asher Fisch Conducts Dvořák 9. Courtesy WA Symphony Orchestra Instagram

The loss of the iconic Perth Concert Hall this year to a three-year renovation overhaul has revealed real weakness in our midst—a secondary Western Australian venue capable of showcasing the acoustic strength of our impressive symphony orchestra.

By far the most comfortable venue for audience members who grow weary of the varied stage visibility and intensely uncomfortable seating of alternative venues—primarily the acoustically unsatisfying Winthrop Hall at UWA—the Concert Hall has been sorely missed this past season. His Majesty’s Theatre provides some respite in these respects, however, like its Heath Ledger counterpart, stages with fly towers aren’t ideal for orchestras on stage, and the STC’s Studio Underground, utilised for a series of new music concerts (including the Composition Project) is also a tricky acoustic beast, as you’d expect a black box theatre to be.

Venue complications aside, difficulty like this has promoted adaptation and out-of-the-box thinking for artistic programming in Season 2025. Break away ensembles, including Early music and Chamber series concerts were welcome additions to the classical music ecosystem in Perth, and greater opportunity for audiences to see the remarkable depth of talent within the orchestra’s ranks as soloists, chamber musicians, conductors and leaders eventuated.

Season 2026’s program shows a continuation of this approach and includes four exciting new works commissioned (or co-commissioned) by WASO, including a concerto for piano accordion by Australian Holly Harrison, a string orchestra piece by first nations composer Aaron Wyatt, a new work by Australian Jazz crossover artist Vanessa Perica, as well as a clarinet concerto from WASO favourite James Ledger, whose 2024 commission The Last Thing just won the coveted Paul Lowin Orchestral Prize.

Also programmed in conjunction with the Perth Festival is Melody Eötvös’s Meraki at St Mary’s Cathedral, in a pared back program that features atmospheric pieces by Pärt, Britten and Vaughan-Williams. Another interesting Perth Festival co-pro includes Phillip Glass’s The Trial produced with Lost and Found Opera and West Australian Opera, directed by award-winning Mary Stuart director, Melissa Cantwell. This promising promotion of accomplished Australian talent is to be much celebrated.

Never fear, for traditionalists are well catered for in Season ’26! Principal conductor and artistic advisor, Asher Fisch, takes the helm to lead the pick of the large-scale symphonic works including Beethoven’s 7^th and 9^th, Mahler’s 9^th, Rachmaninov’s 2^nd, the Dvořák 9 (New World) and Tchaikovsky’s 5^th Symphony. Fisch also directs a concert performance of Wagner’s thrilling The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer) featuring an impressive array of operatic soloists including Australian rising star dramatic soprano Anna Louise Cole, West Australian Opera favourite Paul O’Neill, and much celebrated dramatic baritone Christopher Maltman as the Dutchman, supported by the West Australian Opera Chorus.

Strings also get a brilliant showcase—particularly the violin—with concertos from Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi (La Cetra), Tartini (Devils’ Trill) and Mendelssohn (E minor), along with Robert Schumann’s cello concerto. West Australian masters Ashley Smith and Jenna Smith will undoubtedly shine in Ledger’s clarinet and Haydn’s trumpet concertos, respectively. Piano is also front and centre with the finger busting Prokofiev Concerto No. 1, and Elena Kats-Chernin’s by turns fabulously gaudy and achingly sensitive Piano Concerto No. 3 ‘Lebewohl’. Tamara-Anna Cislowska, who has also performed and recorded the work with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Johannes Fritzsch, returns to Winthrop Hall to perform it with the one-to-watch conducting wunderkind, Kristian Sallinen.

It is also a season of repeat collaborations including welcome returns of renowned Dutch conductor Otto Tausk and conductor in residence at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Northey. Northey conducts four of the seven featured works by women in the 2026 program across multiple concerts, also conducting the premieres of Perica and Harrison’s works, which promise to be something punchy and a little out of the ordinary.

Back too are the WASO’s successful blockbuster movie events, perfect for families and children to experience the power of an orchestra. This year featured works are Michael Giacchino’s Jurassic World, The Music of Joe Hisaishi (of Studio Ghibli fame) and John Powell’s Academy Award nominated score for How to Train Your Dragon. This is one of my boys’ all-time favourite movies, so we’ll be along to this one.

This year’s continuing performance format variations are welcome and exciting events for WA audiences, even if we do have to grumpily persevere with some ill-suited venues for a short while, WASO still promise to deliver some thrilling performance experiences, with a welcome culture of new work commissioning, and championing of both West Australian and Australian talent.