Tas Wilds Spur Sydney Oboe Concerto

Picture: Bob Brown

Sydney composer Nigel Westerway, perhaps best known for having written the score for the smash-hit film ‘Babe’, has composed an oboe concerto after visiting Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area.

Westerway’s concerto is to be premiered by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra this month. (see link to story below)

Bob Brown, who took Westerway on a flight and cruise on Bathurst Harbour (with Par Avion Wilderness Flights) last year, says Westerway’s work fulfils a prophesy of iconic Tasmanian photographer Olegas Truchanas. In the early 1970s, opposing the impending flooding of Lake Pedder, Truchanas forecast these wilds could spur creativity like that of the Scandinavian composers Grieg and Sibelius.

“With partner Paul, I will be off the wild west coast of Tasmania on a yacht trip from Strahan to Stanley when this premiere takes place. It is simply wonderful that, not for the first time, Tasmania’s wilderness is stimulating great creativity for people to enjoy in the crowded cities of the world,” Brown said.

* http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/arts/composer-nigel-westlakes-new-oboe-concerto-spirit-of-the-wild-was-inspired-by-trip-to-tasmania/news-story/ba8da01acadafc5baee997d28d58d363
Steven Chaffer, The Bob Brown Foundation