When Mark Wigglesworth talks about live orchestral music, he talks about ownership. Not of the score, or the building, or even the performance, but of the moment itself. The listener, he says, completes the circle. Without them, the music isn’t quite finished.
It is a fitting philosophy for the man at the helm of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra as it marks 90 years this month. The ASO’s Chief Conductor returns to Adelaide for two Symphony Series concerts that could hardly be more different: The Ring (29 – 30 May), a condensed orchestral journey through Wagner’s monumental cycle, and Nature Untamed (5 – 6 June), a program that crosses Strauss, Mahler, Shostakovich and Dvořák.
Ahead of his return, Wigglesworth spoke with FIFTY+SA about Wagner’s pull, why a concert hall still matters in an age of infinite streaming, and how an orchestra’s role in South Australia is evolving as the ASO enters its tenth decade.
You’re returning to Adelaide for two major Symphony Series concerts during a milestone year for the ASO. What does it feel like to be back on the podium for these programs?
Over the last few months, I have been rather impatiently waiting to come back to Adelaide to make music again with the ASO. I am glad the concerts are nearly upon us.
It is indeed a milestone year for the orchestra, while I know that we are celebrating what has been achieved in the past, musicians always care more about the present and the future. The experience that each player brings to the collective musicianship of the orchestra is broad and deep, and the hunger to communicate to the audiences of today is expressed by a talent and desire for every performance to feel new.
The Ring and Nature Untamed are very different beasts. What draws you to programming them so close together, and what should an audience listen for in each?
The greatest art reveals the human condition and one of the things we are blessed with in classical music is the almost infinite variety of ways in which composers choose to express it.
Though some composers might feel far apart, that is a testament to the breadth of who we are as a species. The connection between Strauss, Wagner, Mahler, Shostakovich, Jankowski, and Dvorak is us and when programming the music we play, I am always looking to reveal the ways in which we are different alongside the ways in which we are the same.
Whether we are choosing our favourite foods, friends, or flowers, there is a choice for every occasion, but we make it safe in the knowledge of course that we don’t really have to make a choice at all — we can have it all!
Wagner’s Ring Cycle music carries enormous weight — both musically and culturally. For someone coming to it for the first time, what’s the doorway in?
The Ring tells a story of love and power with the intention of showing that you cannot have both and that in the end, love will always win. It is a sublimely uplifting experience expressed through music of great power, yes, but even greater beauty.
Though the condensed version that we are playing is without singers, the humanity of the work still shines through. An orchestra of almost a hundred musicians perform on a vast array of instruments including extra horns, harps, and percussion. The range and scale of colours and emotions transport us all to extremes of emotional resonances. We are enveloped in the lush textures, inspired by the extremes of sound both loud and soft, and thrilled by the work’s familiar cinematic tunes.
Encompassing unsurpassed music and storytelling, this piece is the perfect way to discover one of music’s supreme wonders of the world.
The ASO is celebrating 90 years this month. From where you sit as Chief Conductor, what does the orchestra’s role in Adelaide look like in 2026, and how is that different from what it might have been even a decade ago?
Society has changed a lot in the last 90 years, and seemingly especially in the last decade. An orchestra’s role in society has changed too and must continue to evolve along with the communities that it serves. The ASO exists for everyone in South Australia and though there is greater competition for everyone’s time than ever before, there is also a greater opportunity to reach people than ever before. We play a huge variety of music in an enormous number of different venues. We believe passionately in the power of music to change people’s lives for the better and we want to be at the heart of that process.
You’ve spoken before about the power of live orchestral music. In an era where almost any recording is a tap away, why does sitting in a concert hall still matter?
The difference between a recording and a live concert is comparable to watching a replay of a game of football or being at the actual match. It’s the difference between looking at a postcard of the Mona Lisa or seeing it for yourself. When you experience something live, you become part of it. You are no longer just an observer, but part of the performance.
To share the music with those on stage, and with those around you, is to take ownership of the music. You feel heard by it as much as you hear it yourself. Your role in the auditorium may be a silent one, but it is no less active for that. The focussed listening to the music, the listening to the silence of a venue full of people, enables a greater connection to the power of the music itself. The listener in the hall completes the circle of communication which music has such profound power to create.
Finally, for someone who has never been to an ASO concert before — what would you say to them?
Come and be part of the music, be heard and share in the ownership of the ASO. The composers whose music we programme may often not be alive, but the music is new on every occasion it is played. No piece is ever a repeated performance. It is always created afresh. Partly by the contribution of the musicians, but equally through the unique quality that every different audience creates too. It is a moment not to stop, but to actively find yourself at the centre of something special, and to connect with the here and now of who we are.
Experience Mark Wigglesworth conducting the ASO for The Ring (29–30 May) and Nature Untamed (5–6 June). Details: aso.com.au
