Written by Gillian Wills

Covering the state of Queensland is a challenge for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Queensland comprises 1.73 million square kilometres – almost five times the size of Japan and several times the size of Great Britain.

For an arts company like Queensland Symphony Orchestra with a statewide ambassadorial role that’s a daunting responsibility, but also a challenge they are up for.

Last year Umberto Clerici, the orchestra’s chief conductor, announced he would strengthen the orchestra’s commitment to regional touring over five years from 2024 to 2028.

Clerici is keen to take QSO out of concert halls to travel with as many as 60 orchestral players into classrooms and town halls and onto modest stages in regional centres and remote communities across the state.

This year QSO is touring to Cairns, Port Douglas, Townsville, Toowoomba and St George along with  the already established host regions of Gladstone, Chinchilla, Miles, Roma, Tara, the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Redlands.

The overarching aim is to access four major cities and one Outback location every year, inviting schools and communities from neighbouring areas to travel to hear the orchestra. This initiative will give many thousands of regional and remote Queenslanders the opportunity to experience live performance through a Symphony Under the Stars outdoor concert.

Welcomed by mayors, councils, local leaders, businesses, philanthropists and health professionals, the initiative seeks to achieve community-wide engagement, increase educational and therapeutic projects, foster talent and support each centre’s priorities and needs.

Lachlan Welsh, director of the North Australian Festival of Arts, has applauded the decision to bring QSO to Townsville – it’s first visit in seven years – to make a debut appearance at this inclusive event that attracts about 52,000 attendees.

There’s a commitment to be relevant. A recently commissioned Symphony no. 3, The Great Barrier Reef  by Paul Dean is programmed for this city only, as it is a stone’s throw from the source of his inspiration. 

Meanwhile, Toowoomba councillor James O’Shea says: “It’s of immense value and incredibly cool the QSO is coming to the town for the first time to present Symphony Under the Stars in the iconic Queen’s Park Amphitheatre in October. This concert will add significantly to the Carnival of Flowers Festival and our celebration of its 75th anniversary.”

Touring to regional centres is popular with orchestral musicians. French horn player Lauren Manuel believes “outdoor scenarios have a different vibe”.

“You feel a connection to people sitting on a blanket or a picnic chair because they’re more relaxed,” Manuel says. “Umberto (Clerici) is great at creating a rapport and it makes us get extra involved in playing. There’s a level of socialising with other orchestral players after the concert which is fundamental to our brief. We’re like a large family of friends and colleagues and you get to know people you don’t normally talk to.”

Manuel especially enjoys travelling to Gladstone.

“We’ve been there several times, we know the routine, same hotel, same cafes and we know the audience well. The children like to try out our instruments. Some of the kids had a go at the horn and got a bigger sound out of it than me. Percussionist Tim Corkeron has a following, a fandom. A few years ago, some kids wore t-shirts with ‘We love the QSO’ on one side and on the other, ‘Tim’.”

Performing to different audiences is as much a skill as adjusting to performance spaces with a variety of acoustics. Just as a solo pianist has to bring out the best of an unfamiliar piano in a concert, an orchestra must play to the strengths of each performance space.

QSO also values the cultural heritage of First Nations peoples and is dedicated to supporting indigenous voices and stories through music.

“We went to Mount Isa last year with composer and didgeridoo player William Barton,” Manuel recalls. “Local indigenous children got the biggest kick out of their interaction with him. He commands respect and has a beautiful way of framing things.”

The next Symphony of the Stars is on August 16, 7pm, at Gladstone’s Marina Stage. Katharina Wincour will conduct a program of Mendelssohn’s Overture from A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Peter Sculthorpe’s Kakadu, a portrayal of seasonal changes; Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite; and John Williams’ Harry’s Wondrous World from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

qso.com.au

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