The Enigma Variations

Willoughby Symphony will launch its 2012 Symphonic Odyssey concert series with the passionate and exhilarating Enigma Variations, 8pm, Friday 9 March and 2pm, Sunday 11 March at the world-class Concert Hall on The Concourse, Chatswood.

Performing under the baton of Chief Conductor, Dr Nicholas Milton, Willoughby Symphony will begin the concert with Graeme Koehne’s thrilling Elevator Music (1997). Joining the Symphony onstage, leading Australian cellist Julian Smiles will deliver a spectacular interpretation of Dvorak’s masterpiece Cello Concerto in B Minor, op. 104.

Completing the concert is Elgar’s magnificent Enigma Variations, one of his most performed and recorded works. The robust and melodic piece is a dedication to "my friends pictured within", each variation being a portrayal of one of his circle of close acquaintances.

Well known to Australian and international audiences, Julian Smiles is a member of the Australia Ensemble and the Goldner String Quartet, and performs regularly as a guest principal with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. A tutor at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne and the Australian Youth Orchestra, Julian will be a judge for the fifth Melbourne International Chamber of Music Competition. Julian plays on an 1827 Lorenzo Ventapane cello.