Mozart by Candlelight

Perth Symphony Orchestra’s acclaimed Mozart by Candlelight is set to return on Friday 30 October 2020 at the Perth Concert Hall, featuring some of Mozart’s most loved pieces with a surprisingly risqué twist.

Under the creative direction of PSO’s Founder and CEO Bourby Webster, this concert promises to be anything but a traditional classical concert. With performances weaving together Mozart’s own intimate letters and notes to his loved ones, alongside music inspired by the highly acclaimed Mozart in the Jungle book and television series – providing a glimpse into the secret and often racy world of classical musicians.

Bourby describes her inspiration for the more suggestive concert: “I love that classical music and musicians are incredibly ‘human’. Their precision, poise, and discipline often means people perceive classical music and musicians as terribly ‘proper’ – which any of us in the industry knows is just not the case. We are like anyone else, with as many flaws and scandals as we have triumphs and achievements.

“Blair Tindall’s book, Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music really resonated with me” confesses Bourby. “So, I set the challenge of bringing this sense of ‘real life’ into a Candlelit concert featuring stunning music by Mozart, and some of the pieces that appear in the TV iteration of Blair’s scandalous book. Tindall, herself a professional oboist, will make a video appearance in the concert, which we’re looking forward to.”

The program includes an Australian premiere performance of Caroline Shaw’s Is a Rose, made famous by the Mozart in the Jungle television show and performed by the talented Helen Shanahan; along with Australian premiere of Michael Nyman’s Drowning by Numbers: Trysting Fields with soloists Paul Wright and Kathy Potter.

Acclaimed virtuoso violinist and ensemble leader Paul Wright will be making his Perth Symphony debut on the viola in the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Pascale Whiting on violin, as well as solos by horn player Julian Leslie, violist Katie McKay and oboist Stephanie Nicholls.

Expect to hear the music of Mozart like never before, as Perth Symphony takes its audience beyond the powdered wigs and silken undergarments of one of classical music’s most revered figures.

This concert is made possible with support from the Wright Burt Foundation and The State Government of Western Australia.