Let’s start this month’s gig guide with Tura New Music, who are having a busy winter! In August Tura will support the workshop of Cat Hope’s experimental opera Speechless in Adelaide plus tour to Warmun for a 3 week regional residency where Jon Rose will, in collaboration with the local community, turn a car wreck into a musical instrument. Tura is also producing the next Scale Variable concert featuring Intercurrent on August 29th. The 4-piece Intercurrent have an impressive program planned including a recent work by Hannah Lash and THREE premieres by Chris Tonkin, Julian Day and Alex Turley. Finally the organisation have been involved with a sound art, video and sculpture installation called Scarasson which will be presenting nightly performances at the State Buildings from August 1-6th.

Keep an eye out for string quartets this month: the Australian String Quartet kick off their national tour in Perth on August 2nd with a program including Dvorak Britten and Australian composer Paul Stanhope. I haven’t yet heard the new lineup of players, so if you have let me know what you think. The popular Takacs Quartet is also in town on the 10th performing Haydn. Mozart and the world premiere of Carl Vine’s 6th String Quartet Child’s Play. This will be the launch of their national Musica Viva tour.

The West Australian Symphony Orchestra will celebrate a 20 year association with conductor Simone Young on the 4/5th with a wide-ranging program from Haydn to Brahms and the world premiere of a work by Australian Andrew Schultz. Asher Fisch is in town on the 17-19th to conduct Schubert’s great Symphony No 9 with Jayson Gillham joining him for Schumann’s Piano Concerto. The following week Fisch will conduct Mahler’s 6th Symphony and Karen Gomlo will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 3.

On the 11th St George’s Cathedral Consort will perform Bach, Bernstein and Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. The Perth Symphony Orchestra are performing their annual Baroque by Candlelight concert on the 23rd at St George’s Cathedral. Jessica Gethin will conduct and Paul Wright is concert master: book now as this immersive concert always sells out!

On the 12th the WA Academy of Performing Arts will host Geoffrey Lancaster and Stewart Smith playing keyboard works by Bach. Also at WAAPA Karin Schaupp and Claire Edwardes will give a concert on the 18th of all-Australian music for the mellow and sensuous medium of guitar and marimba. On the 24th winner of the 2016 Sydney international Piano Competition Audrey Gugnin will present a recital and on the 26th August WAAPA 3rd year music theatre students will  begin their season of Chicago under the direction of Crispin taylor.

Finally the Darlington Piano Quartet will perform Dohnanyi, Brahms and James Ledger’s Three Escher Portraits on the 27th at the Darlington Hall. Enjoy!