it is winter and Asher Fisch is back in Perth to stoke the fire at WASO. Hopefully he will last the entire season this time, I was disappointed to miss him earlier in the year when at the last minute he cancelled a concert and had to return to Europe. Fisch’s first concert with WASO is June 6th/7th conducting Haydn’s Lamentatione Symphony and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. The following week (June 13th/14th) he conducts Mahler’s Ninth Symphony.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra bring the Timeline tour to Perth on Wednesday 4th June. In this quirky program the orchestra will join forces with electro-pop group The Presets to perform a kaleidoscope of 230 songs spanning 42 000 years. Apparently there is also percussion, vocal sextet, curated recording footage and visual effects. Intrigued? Me too!
 
Lovers of piano trios are in for a feast: on Sunday 8th June the Magellan Trio (with Margie Blades ex-WASO) will perform trios by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven at Trinity College and on Wednesday 11th The Darlington Piano Trio perform trios by Bruch, Bridge and Mendelssohn.
 
Lost and Found Opera Co are a new star-attraction. After their success at Perth Fringe with The Human Voice, the company have found another ‘lost’ work to perform in the curious location of Perth Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis will run Thursday 12, 15, 16th. I love watching this company explore ways to enable the community to engage with the narrative of opera.

WAAPA’s musicals always sell out and West Side Story sounds like a it will be another hit. The season runs June 14-21st. WASO ends the month with a movie soundtrack performance at the Convention Centre Riverside Theatre. On June 20/21st  they will perform Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with the WASO Chorus and St George’s Cathedral Chorus. On June 27/28th Vladimir Verbitsky will conduct Faure’s Pelleas et Melisande and will be joined by violist Maxim Rysanov for Berlioz’s Howard in Italy and Vaughan Williams’ Suite for Viola and Orchestra.