SSO will dedicate a week of performances to Peter Sculthorpe’s memory.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra will dedicate all of their concerts next week to the memory of composer Peter Sculthorpe who died yesterday aged 85.

In a statement, Managing Director Rory Jeffes paid tribute. “Yesterday we said farewell to one of Australia’s greatest ever composers,” he said. “Peter Sculthorpe was a prolific composer and respected cultural ambassador with a unique talent for conveying the spirit and landscape of this country through his music.”

“As a way to honour Sculthorpe and the contribution he made to Australian cultural life, our Chief Conductor and Artistic Director David Robertson and the musicians of the SSO will perform Sculthorpe’s Memento Mori as an encore at each of our performances this coming week at the Sydney Opera House. The SSO will also dedicate these three concerts to Sculthorpe.”

Reflecting on the orchestra’s ties to a composer whose sound seems to define so much of Australian music over the last 60 years, Jeffes said: “The relationship between the SSO and Peter Sculthorpe ran deep and spanned some 50 years. It began when Sir Bernard Heinze invited him to write Sun Music I for the orchestra to perform...