The year 1971 was significant to say the least. The development of the first microprocessor heralded the birth of the digital age; Bangladesh was born while anti-Vietnam war protests raged, Idi Amin seized power in Uganda and Charles Manson and his “family” were convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Meanwhile John Lennon released the Imagine album, The Doors frontman Jim Morrison died and Dmitri Shostakovich composed his final symphony in what has been tagged the year that changed music forever.

It was this landmark period that inspired Sydney Symphony Orchestra percussionist, composer and singer Timothy Constable to create a “whimsical musical joyride” with six of his colleagues for the second of the 2026 Cocktail Hour series, hosted the Sydney Opera House’s intimate Utzon Room.

Tim Constable. Photo © Georgia Jane Griffiths

As Constable says in his program note: “We begin at the Osaka 1970 expo, where radical futurists plot optimistic landscapes for future earth. We’ll deviate to make a folky stop at the homes of Joni (Mitchell) and Nick (Drake) before things get trippy, interspersing symphonic environmentalism with Miles (Davis), The Who and – representing...