Conductor, Jessica Gethin, talks Symphony by the Lake

Symphony by the Lake – Scotch College Playing Fields
Sat 8th March 2014
Chief Conductor of the Perth Symphony Orchestra, Jessica Gethin, is the woman responsible for guiding a mass of talent through an epic journey of two hours of music at the PSO’s Summer Proms Concert, Symphony by the Lake to be held on Saturday 8th March 2014. Here she reveals why she loves her job and what she is most looking forward to:
1) What do you enjoy most about conducting the Perth Symphony Orchestra in concert?
As a conductor I have the opportunity to work with a number of different orchestras, but there is a unique energy and vitality about the PSO that makes it feel like I am where I really belong every time I step on the podium. The players are open to new ideas and have a unique fresh energy and an approach where everyone wants to unify the sound and create something special. You can feel the support from the musicians and know that the quality is always going to be superb and the players are going to enjoy it. This means I know the audience is going to enjoy it as well.
2) What makes Symphony by the Lake so special?
This is a very special concert for Perth Symphony Orchestra as it was the first concert the Perth Symphony Orchestra launched under our own name, but it’s also our ‘home’ concert … like the the Eagles and Dockers playing the derby … all the fans rally around and really support it – it’s like that for this concert. It is OUR concert for our audience that we get to fully program. Through this concert we get to fully realise our artistic vision and can program the music we know people want to hear and we want to play. We can feature repertoire that we feel is so wanted and so needed in Western Australia and we can do this through Symphony by the Lake.
3) What can we expect from the program in 2014?
Patrons can expect a highly entertaining concert with a huge variety of works – a little bit of film, a little bit of classical, a little bit of contemporary, there will be something in there for everyone, from the young to the old to families, to classical music lovers to first time concert goers. We hope we have something there for everyone. It will simply be a fantastic evening out under the stars with friends, a picnic and with an orchestra that will love every minute of performing for them. I’ve worked really hard on the program and will be rehearsing the orchestra very hard to ensure it is a night like no other in Western Australia – our signature night!
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