Today I received the WASO's 2009 brochure in the mail. I'd already watched a good portion of their season launch (which was open to subscribers and involved live orchestral performance) online, but this didn't really prepare me.
Here's what I see:
James LEDGER Arcs and Planes [premiere]
James LEDGER [new work]
Magnus LINDBERG Clarinet Concerto [1st Oz perf]
Mark-Anthony TURNAGE Ceres
Julian ANDERSON Alleluia [1st Oz perf]
Ross EDWARDS Maninyas
Elena KATS-CHERNIN Ornamental Air – Basset Clarinet Concerto
Thomas ADÈS Powder Her Face: Overture, Waltz and Finale
And that's just the "Classics" Series! That's one work by a living composer per concert – it's not actually distributed so neatly – including four works by three Australians and four first performances of some kind. And all these pieces are or are likely to be winners.
Of course, it's wicked of me to say "that's just the Classics Series" (i.e. the series where I wouldn't expect to see much recent or Australian music), because when I turn to the Masters Series (the series where I would), there's just one work:
Rodion SHCHEDRIN Concerto for Orchestra No.1 (Naughty Limericks)
Never mind, the Classics Series is a bonza. Go WASO! – I'm proud of you.
And that's not all, there are two special events worth paying attention to:
John ADAMS A Flowering Tree [1st Oz perf] – a collaboration with the WA Opera
Richard MILLS Passion according to St Mark – a co-commission involving the 10 Days on the Island Festival, the TSO and TQO as well as the WASO and of course the Australia Council
Finally, on their Japan tour they'll be taking a new work by Jim Ledger (he's the WASO's Composer-in-Residence) as well as Sculthorpe's Kakadu in what I'm assuming is the version that involves didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton. (Barton is clearly touring soloist du jour – he's currently performing with another Australian orchestra in Italy.)
By contrast, my orchestra is playing two works by Sculthorpe (one in Meet the Music, one in the Discovery series), a new horn concerto by film composer Christopher Gordon (Meet the Music and Tea & Symphony), Grainger's Handel in the Strand (Discovery), new pieces by two very young composers (more Discovery, which happens to have Richard Gill as its director), and a couple of pieces by members of TaikOz (Kaleidoscope and Tea & Symphony). There's nothing Australian, or indeed anything by a living composer of any nationality, in the "flagship" Master Series or Great Classics or any of the other major series. Of the Australian music we do have, five works are in concerts conducted by Richard Gill, one is in an Ashkenazy program, and the others are there as the result of TaikOz's participation. There is only one commissioned work of substance.
Is shame too strong an emotion to be feeling? If it is, then I lay claim to extreme envy and no small measure of embarrassment.