Beethoven’s Ode to Joy sets the tone for WA Symphony Orchestra in 2027, their final season at UWA before returning to Perth Concert Hall post-renovations for the WASO centenary in 2028.

Principal conductor Asher Fisch will launch the main stage program in March with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, its lavish choral finale ringing the rafters at Winthrop Hall and inspiring the season’s title, Joy Lives Here.

Fisch will follow up a week later with Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony, a monumental work that plays to his strength in German Romantic repertoire.

The Munich-based maestro will return to Winthrop in November for a program of Wagner and Strauss — bracketed with the world premiere of WA composer James Ledger’s Cello Concerto, played by Li-Wei Qin — and a season finale celebrating dance, culminating in Ravel’s ebullient Bolero.

In between, guest conductors and soloists, including firm favourites such as Qin, feature in a kaleidoscope of established and new works.

In April, the Australian premiere of Pepin’s Les Eaux celestes ushers in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, featuring tenor Andrew Goodwin and WASO principal horn David Evans under the baton of Lawrence Renes, closing with Brahms’ Second Symphony.

In May, Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits and soloist Vadym Kholodenko combine for the world premiere of Australian composer Carl Vine’s Piano Concerto No.3, concluding with Stravinsky’s Petrushka ballet music.

A coronation-themed program in June combines music of Handel, Haydn, Purcell and Mozart under British-Australian conductor Chad Kelly, with local and international soloists and the WASO Chorus.

Popular guest conductor Ben Northey fronts the orchestra in July with the world premiere of Richard Mills’ Percussion Symphony, featuring WASO’s lively in-house percussionists, closing with Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Also in July, Italian-Turkish conductor Nil Venditti brings Bernstein, Gershwin and Bartok to the stage, with Korean soloist Joyce Yang playing Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F.

Dynamic pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk returns in September under the baton of another regular visitor, Umberto Clerici, with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1, bracketed by Farrenc’s Overture No.2 and Dvorak’s Sixth Symphony.

October sees the WASO debut of French conductor Chloe van Soeterstede and the return of Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma in Glazunov’s Violin Concerto. The busy program includes a new work by Australian composer Elizabeth Younan, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride overture and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, also touring to Bunbury the same weekend.

Away from the main stage, the Matinee Symphony Series launches at His Majesty’s Theatre in March with violinist-director Shaun Lee-Chen and WASO assistant concertmaster Semra Lee leading a Baroque concert themed on Handel’s Water Music. Lee-Chen will also take the orchestra on tour to Bunbury in March with a related program of Baroque gems.

The matinee series continues at Heath Ledger Theatre in June with assistant principal double-bass John Keene conducting Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. Concertmaster Laurence Jackson then plays and directs Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending and Beethoven’s First Symphony.

Fisch makes a cameo appearance in August with an Australian premiere of Anna Clyne’s This Moment, and Italian soloist Francesca Dego playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

The pair then join WASO on tour to Mandurah and Albany, alternating the Beethoven and Brahms’ Violin Concerto, culminating with Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony.

Umberto Clerici brings Farrenc’s Overture No.2 and Dvorak’s Sixth Symphony from the main stage program in September. The matinee series then concludes in October with conductor Sam Weller and principal oboe Liz Chee playing the world premiere of WA composer Lachlan Skipworth’s Oboe Concerto, plus Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro overture and Stravinsky’s Firebird suite.

Shaun Lee-Chen leads the Baroque Series at His Majesty’s Theatre, with concerts in March and November. The first includes Handel’s Water Music and Bach’s double violin concerto, with sister Semra Lee; the second features Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and classics by Valentini and Telemann.

Chamber Series concerts return to Government House Ballroom with programs devised and directed by WASO musicians, including major works conducted by John Keene. In April, they feature Brahms, Wagner and Shostakovich; in August it’s Kodaly, Janacek and Dvorak; and the series concludes in October with Bacewicz, Stravinsky and Piazzolla.

WASO Special Events begin in February with Gina Williams-Ghouse in Warangka (Sing), a celebration of her life and work with late husband Guy Ghouse, for Perth Festival at UWA’s Octagon Theatre. She will be accompanied by WASO and conductor Jen Winley with arrangements by principal trombone Joshua Davis.

Conductor Sam Weller continues the series at State Theatre Studio Underground with new work from Amy Skellern, winner of the Bendat Family Scholarship for emerging composers, and other repertoire by Lisa Illean, Nuno Lobo and Thomas Ades.

WASO at the Movies launches in April with Star Wars: A New Hope, followed by How to Train Your Dragon 2 in early June, both under the baton of Jessica Gethin at Riverside Theatre.

Sara Duhig conducts a family concert of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, with new work by Darcy Lewis and Joseph Twist’s The Flying Orchestra, at Heath Ledger Theatre in late June.

Nicholas Buc then conducts The Music of the Lord of the Rings at Riverside Theatre in August.

Finally, WASO Chorus takes over St Mary’s Cathedral in October for Sacree, a selection of French motets and voluntaries with organists Holly Broadbent and Alessandro Pittorino, directed by Hugh Lydon.

Community programs continue through the year with Crescendo, WASO in Schools, Connect, Harmony Music, Side-by-Side Symphony, Music for the Ages, and the Composition Project.

Subscription packages are on sale from September 30, and individual tickets from November 4. Visit waso.com.au.