Our festivals might be during summer but winter is the time to discover the riches of Perth’s cultural life; June is brimming with theatre, jazz and loads of classical music.
The WA Youth Jazz Orchestra kick off the month with the sweet sounds of Sydney trombonist Alex Silver performing much loved jazz standards from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s at Jazz at the Maj on June 1st/2nd.
Don’t miss the Giovanni Consort’s second vocal concert for the year on the 2nd. They are performing a program of Australasian music at the visually and acoustically stunning Cabaret Cave, Perth’s only cave venue in Yanchep National Park (a venue originally used in the 1930’s as a secret dinner and dance location for Perth’s rich and famous).
On the 3rd WAAPA will present In C showcasing fortepianists Geoffrey Lancaster and James Huntingford performing three of Beethoven’s most popular and revolutionary piano sonatas each deemed in the composer’s lifetime as “heinous and incomprehensible musical crimes”.
The fabulous Freeze Frame Opera are bringing their original production (and vintage caravan) Pagliacci to Camelot (indoor) theatre from June 8-16th. The impressive creative team includes Michael Lewis as Tonio, Paul O’Neill as Canio and Harriet O’Shannessy as Nedda.
On Sunday the 10th the Perth Concert Hall turns into a zoo as the WA Symphony Orhcestra performs Carnival of the Animals. Let your imagination run wild with Saint-Saëns’ classic introduction to the instruments of the orchestra, featuring the celebrated puppetry of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre and poetry by Nick Enright. WASO will also present A Night in Vienna on the 15th/16th feautring violinist Alexandre Da Costa performing the charming music of Johann Strauss Jr, Fritz Kreisler and Richard Strauss’ waltz-filled Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. On the 21st-23rd Asher Fisch and WASO will continue their journey through Mahler’s symphonies with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, joined by soprano Stefanie Iranyi. The program also includes Berio’s Folk Songs, a delicately beautiful 11-song cycle featuring melodies from the Appalachians to Azerbaijan. Finally the orchestra will celebrate one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century on the 29/30th. To mark the 100th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth, Benjamin Northey conducts The Best of Bernstein showcasing ‘Lenny’s’ work for Broadway, film screen and concert stage.
Intercurrent ensemble will premiere two new works by Lachlan Skipworth in their Sensory Horizons concert on June 19th alongside an eclectic program that includes Lutoslawski and Kate Moore.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra are in town with Steven Isserlis on the 27th. Join me for the pre-concert talk because this is a knock-out program: world premieres by Samuel Adams and Elena Kats-Chernin plus Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 1 and Haydn’s Symphony No 104. What a night!
Viola player Sally Boud will perform Viola Masterpieces with Faith Maydwell accompanying on the newly donated Fazioli piano piano at the St Georges Cathedral on the 28th.
Pianist Gabriella Smart will give a recital on 29th inspired by two pianos from colonial Australia: Percy Grainger’s childhood piano, and the first piano to be transported to Alice Springs, reputedly on the back of a camel from Oodnadatta. Smart will perform works by an Australian and a German composer commissioned to write about the historic pianos.
In the world of THEATRE Black Swan State Theatre Company offer their second ‘conversation’, this time about political violence driven by the disenfranchised (Sondheim’s The Assassins 16 June – 1 July) and how people find a pathway to heal in the aftermath of a community tragedy ( Catherine McClements in The Events 21 June – 8 July). The Last Great Hunt will present their second premiere for the year Improvement Club, (27 June – 7 July) a surreal comedy (by Jeffrey Jay Fowler) about our infinite pursuit of excellence.
In DANCE news the WA Ballet present their min-series Genesis (26th-30th) featuring new short works for ballet. And from 7-16th PICA presents Burrbgaja Yalirra (Dancing Forwards), a triple bill by Marrugeku who are a Broome-based company dedicated to bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists together to develop new dance languages.
Let me know if I have missed anything this month. For more arts events for children head to the Kids Gig Guide.
Noted 