Pandaemonium Unleashed

Sam Weller – Sydney’s mullet-sporting maestro – is returning to Perth on November 6 & 7 for two pulsating concerts featuring contemporary works by Jordan Moore, Olivia Davies, Lachlan Skipworth, Melody Eötvös and Kate Moore. We spoke to the rising star of classical conducting to find out what audiences can expect from this cutting-edge program.

Sam, how does it feel to be making your WASO conducting debut in November with Pandaemonium?

I am really excited to be making my debut with WASO. This year has been a year of firsts for me. After spending the last five years studying and working in Amsterdam, I've really enjoyed coming back to Australia and working with many Australian orchestras for the first time. WASO is full of musicians that I have admired for a long time when I was a student, as well as many familiar faces, musicians who I studied with during my Bachelor.

How does it feel to be working with WASO again after your Australian Conducting Academy participation in 2020? How have you grown as a conductor since then?

It's nerve-wracking returning to an orchestra that you have been in front of as a student. During these lessons you are trying new things to varying degrees of success and this often results in some mediocre conducting... In the past few years I feel like I have started to crystallise my identity as a conductor and a musician. I know more about what I am searching for in interpreting music. I'm looking forward to working with WASO now in a professional context, in what will be (I'm sure) a very enlivening musical exchange. 

What excites you about the works in Pandaemonium?

I am really looking forward to the plethora of styles throughout this program. It's going to be a high energy whirlwind concert – it's a huge play for the orchestra. In this program, we get to showcase substantial Australian works without the looming shadow of Mahler or Strauss (as fabulous as their shadow is). I think everyone will be taken by the range of styles we touch on throughout the concert.

How would you describe Pandaemonium to a prospective audience member?

I think this concert has been named aptly. You might not recognise any of the music but the range of art we will get through is crazy. It's certainly not a clap and sing along concert, but it won’t go as far as an orchestra of vacuum cleaners. The skill and virtuosity of the WASO players will be on full display, and you will hear from sections of the Orchestra that don't get much of a look-in in Romantic repertoire. Some composers are more rhythmically charged and driven, others are more ethereal and based in long winding lines. I can’t wait to introduce these works to the Perth audience – what's more, FOUR of the composers are from WA. WA gives the Eastern states a huge run for their money in their composition output. 

The works in Pandaemonium are all by Australian composers. As an Aussie whose career is taking off overseas, what are your thoughts on the Australian classical music scene?

I am very proud to represent Australia in Europe and I get a huge kick out of showing Europeans excellent Australian music. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to also show recordings of our state orchestras who really show up when compared to other European orchestras. Orchestras are often asked about their sound, or their culture, and to me the answer for Australian orchestras lies in our living composers, our rich cultural heritage and our grit. We need only embrace what we already have to occupy a very unique space in Western Art Music. I am really excited to promote six excellent Australian compositions with a truly excellent orchestra. 

Pandaemonium

6 & 7 November 7.30pm
Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA