For the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, 2024 is a year cleft in twain.

The Perth Concert Hall’s redevelopment is slated for next September, and Principal Conductor Asher Fisch is keen to give the orchestra’s home a massive last hurrah before WASO takes up temporary residence in the University of Western Australia’s Winthrop Hall.

“We’re going bonanza with the orchestra, because we can! I wanted to make sure we get a lot of big works in the Hall while we’re in it, just to savour the acoustics and keep it in our ears for two years,” says Fisch to Limelight.

“So, it’s a mix of some great colourful orchestral numbers while we’re in the Hall, and then adapting the right music for the Winthrop.”

The most colourful of these numbers? Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, which Fisch will conduct for the first time on 13–14 September, as the closing performance in the Concert Hall.