The Grainger Wind Symphony is a Melbourne-based not-for-profit group made up of musicians who share a passion for creating quality wind-band music.
Established in 1986 and named after one of Australia’s foremost musicians and composers, Percy Grainger, the group seeks to perform wind symphony music of the highest calibre.
Presenting approximately eight concerts a year throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria, the Grainger Wind Symphony strives to bring its audiences a greater appreciation and enjoyment of the works of Australian composers and wind symphony music generally. The Grainger Wind Symphony also has a strong commitment to music education and the development of young musicians.
The group is based at Blackburn High in the City of Whitehorse and performs in a variety of venues, mainly in the Melbourne CBD or in suitable venues where invited. Rehearsals are on a Wednesday night with usually 5 rehearsals for each concert.
We staged a concert series at Deakin Edge, Federation Square supported by sponsorship from Fed Square Management. See picture above. The programmed works have illustrated our migrant history, connections with regional Victoria and youth, and Australian events. For example, East Meets West, the second Deakin Edge concert featured works influenced by China.
The group has premiered original compositions in Australia by noted composers for this genre such as Johan De Meij, Robert Downing, Vincent Persichetti, Alfred Reed, Frank Ticheli, and Simon Yau Yeun-hing. It has promoted Australian composers of wind symphonies by performing their works. They include Andrew Batterham, Jodie Blackshaw, Scott Cameron, Peter Chaplin, George Dreyfus, Houston Dunleavy, Brian Hogg, Ralph Hultgren, David Keeffe, Graham Lloyd, Barry McKimm and Peter Sculthorpe. Of course, we are dedicated in keeping the wind band compositions of the imitable Percy Grainger to the fore.
With a strong commitment to education, the GWS stages Conductor Workshops, stage performance where school are invited to share the stage and sometimes perform a combined work with the school musicians sitting with GWS players. We aim to rovide inspiration to conductors and instrumentalist to lift performance standards and share the love of playing in a wind symphony.