It is mid-winter and my mulled wine recipe is out! So too is the Perth Winter Arts Festival brochure to satisfy your artistic palette. Here is my pick of the classical music gigs around town this month:

The WA Symphony Orchestra will host Simone Lamsma playing Tchaikovsky  on July 1st. On July 15th the orchestra with conductor Guy Noble will present Last Night at the Proms featuring the classic anthems, soloists and chorus of this English tradition. On the 22nd the orchestra joins forces with Cirque du Soleil for a unique circus and musical extravaganza, again conducted by Guy Noble.
And then things get serious again with an all-Beethoven program on 28th conducted by Simone Young featuring Javier Perianes performing the Piano Concerto No 3.

On Saturday 2nd July Michael Kieran Harvey will join Irina Vasilieva in a recital for two pianos at Cappucino Concerts. The program is intriguing and the performers outstanding so this is a must see!

American pianist Julian Garguilo’s rigorous Russian conservatory training and his informal style makes him a funny and unconventional advocate for classical music. He performs Downstairs at the Maj on 16th.

The WA Academy of Performing Arts is hosting English soprano Dame Felicity Lott as part of their International Art Song Academy and she will perform in recital on the 6th and in a gala concert at Government House Ballroom on the 10th.

On the 11th the Australian String Quartet tour with a program including Haydn, Webern and Australian pianist/composer Joe Chindamo! Musica Viva are also in town this month, bringing the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge on the 28th. Central to their program is Frank Martin’s Mass for Unaccompanied Double Choir.

WA Opera present The Elixir of Love featuring Aldo di Toro and Rachelle Durkin, running 14-23rd July.

And in a lovely conclusion to the month the Magellan Ensemble (Paul Wright violin, Faith Maydwell piano, Sacha McCulloch) will premiere Perth guitarist/composer Duncan Gardiner’s A Thousand Cranes Beat Their Wings on July 30th at Christ Church Grammar School Chapel.