25 February 2025.
It is the first time Latham has been commissioned to write a piece for himself as soloist. It is also the first full-length concerto he has written for saxophone.
‘To have an orchestra commission you to write and perform your own work is a fantastic thing that is not lost on me,’ Latham says.
‘Writing for yourself as soloist presents some particular difficulties - it’s quite a different process compared to either writing for someone else to perform, or preparing to perform a work by another composer,’ Latham says.
As Latham told Limelight this month, he approached the concerto as simply ‘music for saxophone and orchestra’, rather than attaching a narrative to the new work.
‘There are certain expressive leanings, but I’m not going to preempt how listeners might hear and feel those,’ he told the magazine.
Latham’s concerto has been commissioned by the TSO, with the generous support of a group of friends who are advocates for the TSO and Australian music.
The work will have its world debut in the Federation Concert Hall in the TSO’s first 6pm Series concert for the year, Dance Macabre on 13 March.
Latham is well known to TSO concert goers, having featured regularly as a soloist, performing his own work and that of composers such as Bach and Luke Styles.
As a composer, he has attracted high praise for his works performed by the TSO, including Fire Music for clarinet and orchestra, and Images of Tasmania for bassoon and string orchestra.
The orchestra’s rendition of his Antarctic Triptych for clarinet and strings is the current ABC Classic Mornings theme.
Latham’s concerto performances with other orchestras have included music by Glasunov, Larsson and Dubois, and premieres of Australian works by Karlin G Love, Don Kay, Russell Gilmour, Simon Reade and Timothy Coghill.
Latham is a represented artist with TSO Publishing, and the score for his Solo for clarinet was the very first publication released by TSO Publishing available for purchase.
This piece was written for TSO Principal Clarinet Andrew Seymour, who premiered the work in 2019 as an encore to the Mozart clarinet concerto.
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Federation Concert Hall, 1 Davey Street,
Nipaluna / Hobart,
Lutruwita / TAS 7000, Australia
GPO Box 1450 Nipaluna / Hobart,
Lutruwita / TAS 7001, Australia
TSO Box Office
10am–4pm Monday to Friday
1800 001 190 — boxoffice@tso.com.au
Located in the Hotel Grand Chancellor foyer
Sign up to receive great news and offers. Of course, you can unsubscribe anytime.
Sponsors
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra acknowledges the traditional owners and continuing custodians of lutruwita / Tasmania. We pay respect to the Aboriginal community today, and to its Elders past and present. We recognise a history of truth, which acknowledges the impacts of colonisation upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and stand for a future that profoundly respects their stories, culture, language and history.
