Wiradjuri | Ngemba | Barkindji | Wilyakali
June 28 - July 8 2025
Building on the success of the Big West Tour in 2023, SYO will be heading west again – 2025 will see the orchestra travelling to Gulgong, Warren Cobar, Bourke, Wilcannia and Broken Hill, presenting concerts and working with communities across the Far West region.
Working with leading Australian Conductor Benjamin Northey, SYO Musicians will have the opportunity to:
- Perform Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
- Collaborate with local artists on brand new orchestral works
- Present Meet the Orchestra Concerts for communities that might be hearing an orchestra for the first time
- Be involved in digital project outcomes including recording and film
- Experience the vast and beautiful far west of NSW including visiting important First Nations sites
Conductor, Benjamin Northey
Composer, Andrew Howes
Andrew Howes is SYO’s composer in residence, a Sydney-based composer with a profound fascination with creating mu-sic deriving its initial artistic intent form the ever present natural forces of the Australian Landscape. His works have been performed by ensembles including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Enigma & Kristian Winther Quartets, the Australian and Sydney Youth Orchestras, the Song Company, the Omega Ensemble and Moorambilla Voices, where he has been composer-in-residence six times.
Reflections on Cosmic Colours Over Sunrise by Composer Andrew Howes
Cosmic Colours Over Sunrise was commissioned by SYO as an ‘extra picture’ to accompany Ravel’s orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky, and the ‘picture’, so to speak, was one I experienced, spending nights out at Mutawintji National Park in Western NSW.
I live in Sydney, where light-pollution clouds much of the intricacies and detail of the night’s sky, but the sky in those parts of Western NSW has always stunned me with its unearthly colours and explosive sprays of stars. There is something too about the context — being present in Mutawintji, a place with thousands upon thousands of years of history, and where continuous traditions of visual art are present and maintained, that put me in an observant state of mind.
I am also inspired by space-photography, particularly the work of Astronaut Don Pettit, and his work from the upper atmosphere has helped to contextualise what the naked eye can see.
I have done my best to create a musical language that reflects my personal experience of the sky at night, the cosmic colours. A personal relationship with the sky is something that we all have, in some way or another, but it is infinite and ever-changing — to me it is always worth looking up.
Note: The Barkandji people have been recognised as the traditional owners of land including Mutawintji National Park. source: https://barkandjipbc.com
2023 Highlights:
