australian
wind symphony

The Australian Wind Symphony launched in 2015 at the ACT Legislative Assembly (originally as the Canberra Wind Symphony). It was formed by conductor Dr Geoff Grey to provide performance opportunities for freelance professional instrumentalists, with players hailing from all states and territories of Australia, and from Europe, UK, USA and Asia.

Its charter is to champion the music of living composers. Across its ten concert seasons to date the orchestra has performed an industry leading 90+ regional, national and world premieres from Australian and international composers, including nine works composed for the ensemble.

In furthering their support of living composers, AWS has established a multi-year partnership with the Australian National University to foster new works by music composition students in an annual Composition Alliance.

AWS was the first ever wind ensemble to feature at the Canberra International Music Festival, in 2018. In 2019 the ensemble partnered with Australian icon Marina Prior for an outdoor spectactular (in what was the first fully-paid engagement for a civilian wind ensemble in Australia), and later with Ed Wilson (Daly-Wilson Big Band) to celebrate his 50th anniversary of swing big band leadership. 2023 saw AWS, Ed, and Emma Pask (The Voice)  combine to farewell Ed from the stage to a sell out crowd.

Although remarkably still unfunded, AWS has toured to numerous Australian destinations and performed in a range of diverse venues across the Capital Region, including Llewellyn Hall, National Museum of Australia, High Court of Australia, Street Theatre, Belconnen Arts Centre, ACT Legislative Assembly, The Q, The B, Ainslie+Gorman Arts Centres, Drill Hall Gallery, Church of St Andrew, Hellenic Club, and Fitters’ Workshop. It looks to add ‘Snow Concert Hall’ to that list one 2025.

AWS concludes each season on the 11th of November with a  remembrance themed event at the Warriors’ Chapel of the Church of St Andrew. An amalgam of reflective music,  poetry readings from contemporary veterans, and stunning art deco architecture ensurse a stunning evening of appropriate dedication to all who have served the nation. A feature of this event is the rendition of Abide With Me, incorporating The Last Post  in an arrangement by Texan composer Jay Dawson. In 2020 an AWS recording of this performance was licenced for use by the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, USA for a major exhibition on the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. 

Capturing the excitement of presenting music across a variety of venues, AWS has released four albums since 2021; AWS Live: Captivating, AWS Live: Engaging,  AWS Live: Brilliant,  and AWS Live: Remembrance. The AWS Live series can be found on all major streaming services.