How to be Involved
Box office income, government funding and the generous commitment of our corporate supporters make significant contributions to WASO. However, these sources of income are simply not enough. Increasingly it is our Patrons that enable us to continue to achieve our vision… to touch souls and enrich lives through music.
Supporting Your Orchestra
Patrons become part of a special community. There are many opportunities to be involved in exclusive Patrons’ events, as well as all our Friends of WASO events.
There are several ways to support your Orchestra:
Annual Giving
Bequests
THE WASO SONG BOOK
Endowment Fund
Celeste and brass Campaign
Annual Giving
Your Gift to WASO
Patrons support WASO’s artists and vision through their donation and become part of a special community of individuals who strengthen our ability to remain the cultural heart of Western Australia.
Our Annual Giving Program supports WASO’s ability to:
• achieve artistic excellence;
• secure the finest guest conductors and soloists;
• grow our Reach Out program reaching children from all across Western Australia;
• present an annual series of special events, including family events, which form the heart of our commitment to touch as many West Australians as possible and;
• and work in partnership with Western Australia’s opera and ballet companies.
Your support for WASO is incredibly important and helps WASO to achieve its mission ... to touch souls and enrich lives through music.
Annual donations are fully tax deductible and are acknowledged as follows:
Principal Conductor’s Circle $20,000+
Impresario Patron $10,000 – $19,999
Maestro Patron $5,000 – $9,999
Virtuoso Patron $2,500 – $4,999
Principal Patron $1,000 – $2,499
Tutti Patron $500 – $999
For more information about the Annual Giving Program or for a copy of our brochure, please contact Sarah Gallinagh, Donations & Bequests Coordinator on 9326 0075, email gallinaghs@waso.com.au or click the following link.
Download our Private Giving Program brochure (500KB)
Bequests - Symphony Circle
Passing the baton to the next generation
A bequest is a special gift which we preserve as your legacy. Monies received from bequests are invested in the WASO Endowment Fund for the Orchestra.
Together we can make sure orchestral music remains an ongoing part of Western Australian life. Gifts that come to the Orchestra from being a beneficiary of your estate ensures your family and future generations of Western Australians can continue to be inspired by the power of music.
Words from a Patron:
“For me, it's wonderful that Perth, so isolated from other cities, should have at its cultural core an orchestra of WASO's quality. I have been thrilled to watch the orchestra gradually extend its scope and develop into such a vivid and flexible body. Over the years it has supported many starry performers, but nowadays, the orchestra itself has truly become the star! I feel indebted to the musicians who, with their artistry and dedication, have given me so much joy. By making a bequest, I hope to pass on to the future a contribution towards the continued development and strength of the orchestra so that it can continue to inspire others in the way that it has inspired me."
Judy Sienkiewicz, Bequestor
If you are interested in learning more about leaving a bequest to WASO, please contact Alecia Benzie, Executive Manager, Private Giving on 9326 0020 or benziea@waso.com.au or Sarah Gallinagh, Donations & Bequests Coordinator on 9326 0075 or gallinaghs@waso.com.au.
All enquiries are treated in confidence.
Download our Bequests Brochure (1MB)
THE WASO SONG BOOK
WASO's Commissioning Program
Inspired by Paul Daniel and founded by WASO Chairman Janet Holmes à Court, The WASO Song Book is an opportunity for you to become part of WASO’s history. A matter very close to the heart of everyone at WASO is the commissioning of new works. Each year our aim is to perform new works for our audiences, providing opportunities to nurture musical careers and create new music that may become the classics of tomorrow. These works, over a period of years, will form The WASO Song Book – new works commissioned for WASO, by WASO. It is a truly unique project and we are inviting you to join us and be a part of this exciting, extremely rewarding, creation.
For centuries composers have had enlightened benefactors to enable them to bring their musical ideas to life - Claudio Monteverdi had the Doges of Venice to support him, J.S. Bach had the Archbishop of Salzburg and Haydn had the Esterhazy family just to name a few. At WASO we are proud to acknowledge our very own benefactors. Most recently, Janet Holmes à Court has led the way in supporting new works for WASO by commissioning new pieces by Carl Vine and Sir John Tavener. This support, including her most recent commission of Tavener’s Little Ceremonial, was recognised by our Principal Conductor Paul Daniel following its world premiere at the concert Beethoven's Emperor on Friday 26 March (pictured).
Commissioning new work is an extremely rewarding experience. You are credited on the score - forever - as the commissioner of the work. Your name will be mentioned in program notes and all other publications where the work is discussed. Where possible, you will have the opportunity to meet the composer and perhaps most importantly, you will get the pleasure of knowing you are supporting the creative minds of contemporary Australia and that you have enabled the composing of a new work of art that would otherwise not have been able to be created.
As Janet Holmes à Court said to WASO subscribers, Patrons and Friends after the Tavener premiere, “commissions can be supported in many different ways for many different reasons. Ten friends can get together to commission a new work for the eleventh friend’s birthday. A commission can celebrate an anniversary, the birth of a grandchild, the memory of a loved one or it can be for the simple pleasure of leaving a legacy to your love of music.”
We invite you to be a part of The WASO Song Book by supporting a new work for WASO. In doing so, you will join a special community of WASO supporters, dedicated to building the music of tomorrow. To learn more, please contact Alecia Benzie, Executive Manager, Private Giving on (08) 9326 0020 or benziea@waso.com.au
Endowment Fund for the Orchestra
The Endowment Fund for the Orchestra was launched last year through the generous gift of $100,000 that we received late last year from WASO Patrons Tom and Jean Arkley. On November 16 WASO’s Private Giving team launched the Endowment Fund for the Orchestra at the home of Board Director Barrie Lepley. Attended by the WASO Board, musicians and WASO Patrons, the night was an extremely enjoyable occasion that included a fantastic performance of Haydn’s Divertimento by Principal Viola Giovanni Pasini, Principal Bass Andrew Rootes and Principal Flute, Andrew Nicholson as a thank you to Tom and Jean for their generous support.
Tom and Jean explained on the night that WASO had been a major part of their lives for a very long time and that they had wanted to do something to “make a difference” and encourage others to do the same. It was agreed that a leadership gift enabling the launch of an Endowment Fund would be the best way to achieve this aim.
Monies received from bequests and major gifts for the Endowment Fund are separate to Annual Giving and other giving campaigns. Monies received from bequests and gifts for the Endowment Fund are invested in the Endowment Fund for the Orchestra. This means that rather than going into the day to day expenses of running an Orchestra, these gifts will form the basis of the Orchestra’s financial viability into the future to ensure that it still plays for your children’s children. The money is used to support the Orchestra’s financial needs and maintain the quality of WASO activities while production costs keep rising.
To our great sorrow, Tom Arkley passed away on 17 February 2011 and we are very sad that he could not see his idea of an Endowment Fund grow further. Tom, a soil scientist who graduated from the University of Berkeley in California, came to Western Australia in 1969 to tackle the salinity crisis. He leaves behind his wife Jean, his stepsons James and Ted (Eddie) and two step-grandchildren. Everyone at WASO will remember him fondly and we remain deeply grateful to Tom and Jean for the important contribution they have made to the future of the Orchestra.
If you are interested in learning more about our Endowment Fund, please contact Alecia Benzie, Executive Manager, Private Giving on 9326 0020 or benziea@waso.com.au. All enquiries will be treated in confidence.
Celeste and brass campaign
Have you ever wanted to help influence the sound of your Orchestra? Now is your chance!
We seek your support in raising $80,000 to purchase a celeste and five German trombones and invite you to be a part of this exciting campaign. We are delighted to announce that we have already raised $30,000 towards our target. Every gift makes a difference towards reaching our goal.
Your donation will be tax deductable this financial year if it reaches us by 30 June and you will be invited to ‘meet’ and hear our new instruments once they have been purchased.
The Celeste
The celeste, or celesta, appears on the WASO stage every year. It is a beautiful wooden instrument with a heavenly sound - hence the name. Most people start humming Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker whenever we refer to our need for a new celeste! Our current celeste was purchased second hand in 1974, we believe in Sydney. It has been lovingly overhauled a number of times but is sadly reaching the end of its life. We are seeking to replace this instrument in preparation for the 2014 season. The cost of a new celeste is $40,000.
This year our ‘old’ celeste is on stage during:
Masters 2 – Versbitsky’s Europe
Respighi Pines of Rome
Masters 3 – Prokofiev & Sibelius
Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales
Masters 7 – Strauss & Ravel
James Ledger Violin Concerto (world premiere)
... and it often features at our annual Symphony in the City.
The celeste also featured in our first Masters concert during John Adams Slonimisky’s Earbox. This was a webcast performance you can now view by going to http://freezone.iinet.net.au/vod/freezone/music/waso/15930. There are some great close ups of the celeste near the end of the first piece!
German Trombones
These beautiful instruments feature throughout the German repertoire – Beethoven, Wagner, Brahms to name a few. At present we either use our current (non-German) trombones or we hire a bass trumpet and a contrabass trombone for certain repertoire.
Principal Trombone Joshua Davis says, ‘In the quest for an authentic German sound, the sound Mahler, Brahms, Wagner and Strauss had in mind, nothing else comes close to these hand-crafted Kromat instruments. To have instruments made using traditional German techniques and materials means that we can hear what Strauss and Mahler expected to hear when they wrote their music. The world over, trombonists in many orchestras are investing in German-made instruments for the purpose of taking the listener back to the 19th century. I am so excited by this project, and I hope you are too.’
The use of the German trombones is particularly important in terms of sound consistency when it features with certain other instruments, including the Wagner tubas. WASO’s Wagner tubas were purchased through a generous donation by Robert May and Daniel Shing Kong.
In anticipation of the arrival of our Principal Conductor designate Asher Fisch, who specialises in German repertoire, we hope to purchase a set of German trombones which will include two German tenor trombones, a German bass trombone, a German contrabass trombone and a German bass trumpet. The cost for this set of trombones is $40,000.
We seek your support in raising funds for the purchase of a celeste and set of German trombones. To make a donation to our Celeste and Brass Campaign, please contact Jane on 9326 0014 or email clarej@waso.com.au or to make a donation online, please click here and choose Celeste & Brass from the drop-down menu.
You are invited to join our community of Patrons. You can make a donation when you complete the booking form or by donating online by clicking here. All gifts are tax deductible. Every gift makes a difference.
