This season opener at Winthrop Hall sees WASO reunited with superb Dutch-Maltese conductor Lawrence Renes after 20 years. Perhaps even more significantly, the exciting Russian-Italian violinist Sergej Krylov here makes his WASO debut.

The program – Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture, Tchaikovsky’s D major Violin Concerto and music drawn from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet – takes us from magical classicism through majestic romanticism to muscular diegesis in one supple, startling bound.

Renes’ reading of Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute is crisp and direct, WASO leaving the serene harbour of the opening chords to punch out a mercurial fugal allegro and riveting development section before returning in triumph. Guys, you have our attention.

Sergej Krylov. Portrait supplied

One of Krylov’s mentors was the famed Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. This presupposes a certain kind of musicianship straight away, without hearing a note: one built on utter devotion to craft and beauty.

And so it proves to be the case with Krylov’s Tchaikovsky. While Renes and WASO revel in the lush score, Krylov moves like a balletic prize fighter between dazzling virtuosity and penetrating lyricism. His first-movement cadenza alone filled the stage as easily as the entire orchestra. Following the movement’s coda, the audience cannot restrain itself, releasing their pent-up tension with furious applause.

The contrasting Canzonetta reminds us not only what a gifted melodist Tchaikovsky was; it also allows Krylov and indeed Renes to sing through their respective instruments – the violin, the orchestra – with an exquisite feeling for the underlying melancholy and nostalgia.

Rudely awakened from this pastoral idyll by the Finale, we can only sit slack-jawed as Krylov, Renes and a supremely disciplined WASO take us on a whirlwind dance which sets the stage for Krylov’s encore: a blistering account of Paganini’s (in)famous 24th Caprice. The seeming nonchalance with which Krylov negotiates the devilish variations on a theme is best typified by his lightning pizzicato which has some audience members laughing in disbelief. 

After a much-needed interval, performers and audience return for Renes’ curation of movements from Prokofiev’s 1935 ballet Romeo and Juliet to form a three-part ‘narrative suite’ using Prokofiev’s three ‘official’ orchestral suites as inspiration.

While the four ‘acts’ – III & IV are performed without a break – together come in at 50 minutes, it feels shorter owing to the number and varied character of the ‘scenes’. The terrific effect of ending Act I with the weighty Montagues and Capulets and Act II with Death of Tybalt preserves a sense of monumentality, as does the final act with the poignant Juliet’s Death. 

The result feels more like a symphony rather than a mere suite – especially when conducted and played with such fervour, commitment and unerring dramatic instinct as on this occasion.

West Australian Symphony Orchestra presents Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at Winthrop Hall, Perth, 6 & 7 March.  

Sergey Krylov performs with Konstantin Shamray at UKARIA Cultural Centre, Adelaide on 14 & 15 March, as part of the 2026 Adelaide Festival.

Krylov performs with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in its Mahler 5 concerts at the Concert Hall, QPAC, Brisbane on 20 & 21 March.