Balmain Sinfonia | New Dawn
March 21, 2026, Leichhardt Town Hall, NSW
There is something very heartening about walking into an inner suburban town hall and finding it almost full for an orchestral concert. Leichhardt Town Hall, with its warm acoustic, was a great choice for Balmain Sinfonia’s Inner West performance, and the strong audience turnout suggests these concerts have a loyal and enthusiastic following.
Balmain Sinfonia is a large and well-balanced orchestra of around 60 players, including a number of long-standing members sitting alongside much younger musicians. What is immediately noticeable is the sense of continuity across the ensemble: experienced players anchoring each section, newer players learning beside them. It is, in many ways, how orchestral playing has always been passed on, literally desk to desk, and the result is an ensemble that plays with both confidence and generosity of sound.
The concert opened with Australian composer Jessica Wells’ Emu in the Sky, a work inspired by the First Nations astronomical figure formed not by stars but by the dark spaces of the Milky Way. Wells’ orchestration captured this vividly. A dark, dramatic clarinet line opened the work, while glockenspiel and high percussion tinkled above like starlight. As the piece unfolded, waves of sound moved through the strings, building to a warm, full orchestral crescendo before receding again, leaving a single flute and glockenspiel to return us to the night sky. The work made excellent use of orchestral colour, particularly in the winds and percussion, and was an evocative opener. Lovely to see the composer in attendance too!
The first half also featured two extraordinarily talented young soloists from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music ‘Rising Stars’ program: violinists Ari Kim (age 10) and Sienna Kim (age 15). Performing the first movement of Bach’s Violin Concerto in E major, Ari Kim played with remarkable poise and musicality. The first movement of this concerto is built on recurring orchestral passages that act as structural pillars, and the collaboration between soloist and orchestra was clear, with conductor Monica Buckland and soloist watching each other closely and shaping the movement together. It was a thoughtful and confident performance.
Sienna Kim then took on Barber’s Violin Concerto Op. 14, a very different work, expansive and cinematic in its first movement, deeply expressive in the second, and finishing with the famous moto perpetuo finale, a relentless stream of notes that demands extraordinary technique. From the first movement’s broad musical landscapes to the perpetually moving finale, fingers flying across the fingerboard, this was a truly commanding performance from a soloist with mature stage presence and assuredness. The audience response at the end was immediate and well deserved.
After interval came Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, a work that famously surprised Soviet authorities by being playful, satirical and at times almost circus-like rather than heroic. The first movement immediately showed this character, with bright wind writing and a sense of musical humour, culminating in a huge bass drum moment that seemed to delight both orchestra and audience. The second movement brought contrast – melancholic and beautifully controlled, before the final movements launched into a sequence of scherzo-like energy, including a wonderful bassoon solo from Jeremy Visser that deserves special mention for both musicality and timing. The orchestra handled the sudden contrasts, from heavy, “elephant-like” string writing to quick, light “mousey” passages, with clear shaping and commitment.
One particularly lovely moment during the symphony came when a few tentative claps broke out between movements. Rather than frowning at our uncertainty, the conductor turned and encouraged the audience to clap. For many people, knowing when to applaud at a classical concert can feel like navigating an unwritten rulebook, and her gesture was a reminder that live music is meant to be enjoyed, not approached with anxiety.
The title of this concert was New Dawn, and in many ways that title made perfect sense by the end of the evening. This was a concert about emerging talent and experienced players mentoring the next generation, about local halls filled with people listening to live orchestral music, and about an orchestra confidently presenting interesting and varied repertoire.
Balmain Sinfonia presented an assured and thoroughly enjoyable concert. It will be worth watching where they go next.
