Date
Saturday 6 December 2025 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM (UTC+11)
Location
Ian Woolf Auditorium, De Young Performing Arts Centre, Carey Grammar School
Gate 1, 349 Barkers Road, Kew Victoria 3103
To book at ticket via TryBooking click here.
To download a poster click here.
To download a PDF of the concert program, click here.
The Grainger Wind Symphony presents its final concert of 2025: Together in Music.
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Melbourne’s Grainger Wind Symphony closes its 2025 season with Together in Music — a joyful celebration of artistry, community, and shared musicianship. Under the leadership of Music Director Roland Yeung, the program brings together full symphonic works, intimate chamber ensembles, and a vibrant concerto performance that highlights the ensemble’s depth of talent.
The concert features Donald Crockett’s Dance Concerto with soloist Eric Ho, a long-time member of the Grainger Wind Symphony. His dazzling interpretation of Crockett’s rhythmic, three-movement concerto showcases both individual virtuosity and the collaborative spirit that defines this ensemble.
Associate Conductor Shane Walterfang opens the concert with Borodin’s evocative In the Steppes of Central Asia, followed by the Flute Ensemble’s elegant excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. Guest Conductor Alison Hocking leads Benjamin Lau’s Guilin’s Majesty, a contemporary tone poem inspired by the breathtaking landscapes of southern China. Chamber highlights include a Trombone Septet performing Piazzolla’s tangos from María de Buenos Aires performed by guest from the recently formed Melbourne Trombone Ensemble, the Saxophone Ensemble’s playful Celtic Suite by Gavin Whitlock and the Clarinet Ensemble performing two delightful original compositions by David Goddard.
The evening also features Carols in the Dark by Harrison Collins, conducted by Roland Yeung — a work that reflects on quiet unity — and the program concludes with Star Wars Saga by Williams, arranged by Johan de Meij, an exuberant finale uniting the full wind symphony in celebration.
“This concert represents everything the Grainger Wind Symphony stands for,” says Roland Yeung. “It’s about coming together — professional musicians, educators, and community players — to share our love of music, challenge ourselves artistically, and connect with our audience.”
Together in Music affirms the GWS as one of Melbourne’s most versatile and community-minded ensembles, closing the year with both reflection and festivity.
PROGRAM NOTES
These are the works in the program, but are not in program order.
Trumpet Chamber Group
‘Intrada’ from Suite for Five Trumpets by Ronald Lo Presti
Flute Chamber Group
I. Miniature Overture
III. Danse of the Sugar Plum Fairy
V. Danse of the Mirlitons
from “The Nutcracker” by Peter Tchaikovsky
guests Melbourne Trombone Ensemble
Suite from Maria de Buenos Aires for 7 trombones by Astor Piazzolla arr. Steven Verheist
The Melbourne Trombone Ensemble was formed in 2016 and was Melbourne’s first large trombone ensemble. MTE performs a range of works for trombone groups of different sizes from duets, trios, and quartets up to large trombone choir scores of up to sixteen players. Since its inception, the playing group has been made up of players from all around Melbourne, including orchestral musicians, jazz players, brass band musicians, educators, and more. MTE strives to introduce all of the major repertoire for trombone ensemble to the Melbourne music scene as well as highlighting new and unique works.
Glenn Bardwell, Stuart Brennan, Ming Li, Kit Millais, Joe O’Connor, Maeve Tan and Denton Thomas.
About Maria de Buenos Aires: Arranged by Steven Verhelst for NTC, this Suite from Astor Piazzolla opera “Maria de Buenos Aires”, brings to life the surreal plot of the libretto written by Horacio Ferrer, with the incredibly suggestive music of Piazzolla. Arranged for trombone ensemble, with a surprise euphonium apparition in the middle of the suite.
Astor Piazzolla’s surreal tango operita “Maria de Buenos Aires” follows an impoverished working-class girl. She is seduced by the tango and leads a tragic life. In death, she forever wanders the city of Buenos Aires.
Clarinet Chamber Group
‘Daydreaming’ by David Goddard
‘Goodbye, farewell, so long, adieu’ by David Goddard
An old-timey jazz vocabulary with tight-knit voicings evokes the smooth sounds of 20th century barbershop in ‘Daydreaming’, with the vocal quartet and rhythm section combination extrapolated out to fill a clarinet ensemble with accompanying snare.
‘Goodbye, farewell, so long, adieu’ blends inspiration from the colorful harmonies of Russian composer Aram Khachaturian’s ballet ‘Spartacus’, and the music from the equally beloved hit 1984 series ‘Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends’ composed by Mike O’Donnell and Junior Campbell, brought together in a lighthearted, toe-tapping swing piece.
Saxophone Chamber Group
Celtic Suite in three movements by Gavin Whitlock
- Midnight in Kinsale
- Love Song
- Ceilidh
The piece was written by Gavin Whitlock, a composer born in Salisbury, England. The piece incorporates Scottish and Irish dance themes. The first movement, Midnight in Kinsale (a town in the southeast or Ireland, Country Cork) is a lively duple dance meter and features the baritone saxophone. The second movement is a slow and lyrical romantic song with harmonies evoking the British Isles. The last movement, Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-Lee) is a traditional Irish Gig, complete with repetitive bouncing rhythm to round off the piece with a sense of fun and good cheer.
The Grainger Wind Symphony
‘On Steppes of Central Asia’ by Alexander Borodin conductor Shane Walterfang
In the Steppes of Central Asia is the common English title for a ‘musical tableau’ (or symphonic poem) which Borodin composed in 1880. The work was originally intended to be presented as one of several ‘tableaux vivants’ to celebrate the silver anniversary of the reign of Alexander II of Russia, who had done much to expand the Russian Empire eastward. The intended production never occurred, but the work itself became, and has remained, a concert favourite ever since its first concert performance in St. Petersburg in 1880. This orchestral work idyllically depicts an interaction of Russians and Asians in the steppe lands of the Caucasus. A caravan of Central Asians is crossing the desert under the protection of Russian troops.
‘Guilin’s Majesty’ by Benjamin Lau guest conductor Alison Hocking
Inspired by the composer’s visit to Guangxi, China during early 2024, Guilin’s Majesty is a musical depiction of one of China’s most beautiful provinces. The gorgeous pentatonic melodies set the foundation for this piece and takes the audience on a musical journey to the far east. The slow section of the piece captures the essence of the Li River flowing through the lush, green karst mountains across the region. All topped off with a long, powerful chord to finish from the whole ensemble. A truly ethereal, oriental journey to behold for the listener.
‘Carols In The Dark’ by Harrison J. Collins conductor Roland Yeung
Carols in the Dark was composed as a gift for Brian Youngblood, one of my band directors at Texas Christian University and one of the fiercest advocates of my work. Mr. Youngblood and I had spoken about Christmas music on more than one occasion, and during one such conversation, he presented an idea to me: the melodies of Greensleeves and Carol of the Bells pair together so well, he told me, and yet there was no higher-difficulty arrangement of these two tunes out in the wild world of wind ensemble repertoire. I got the hint; inspired by his suggestion, I sought to fill that gap by composing a colorful and engaging work that takes full advantage of the myriad musical possibilities posed by the two tunes. The result is a dramatic thrill ride that pushes and pulls the two melodies to their limits in a whirlwind of sound and energy.
‘Dance Concerto’ for solo clarinet/bass clarinet and wind ensemble by Donald Crockett – soloist Eric Ho conductor Roland Yeung
1. Might Not Be A Rumba
2. Slow Dance
3. Last Dance
This concerto for clarinet (doubling bass clarinet) and wind ensemble is a Dance Concerto riffing on the theme of its premiere at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. on April 20, 2013, ‘dancing the night away until dawn.’ The soloist in Dance Concerto plays both clarinet and bass clarinet in this virtuosic, three – movement work. All three movements are ‘dance music,’ as if the soloist were the leader of some sort of dance band on this or another planet, and they play fast music, slow music and music in between. These are invented dances; the regulars at this particular late-night, cosmopolitan club are very, very good, but even newcomers can join in and dance until the sun comes up. – Donald Crockett
‘Star Wars Saga’ by John Williams arr Johan deMeij conductor Roland Yeung
John Williams (February 8, 1932) has composed some of the most popular, recognizable and critically acclaimed film scores in cinema history. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 53 Academy Award nominations, he is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. His compositions are considered the epitome of film music, and he is considered among the greatest composers in the history of cinema. His work has influenced many other composers of film, popular, and contemporary classical music. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams’s score to 1977’s Star Wars as the greatest film score of all time.
Williams has been associated with director Steven Spielberg since 1974, composing music for all but five of his feature films, and George Lucas, with whom he has worked on his main franchises. He has received five Academy Awards for Best Original Score for his work on Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Star Wars (1977), and Schindler’s List (1993). Williams has composed for many other popular films including Superman, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and the first three Harry Potter films. Williams has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments. He served as the Boston Pops’ principal conductor from 1980 to 1993 and is its laureate conductor.
In this newly revised arrangement from 1986, arranger Johan de Meij has used themes from Star Wars – A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.