Percussionist Claire Edwardes stars, Benjamin Northey conducts the orchestra while host Will Newbery conducts the laughs.

Strings, swans, and that shower scene.

What’s more famous – the knife-wielding madman dressed up as his mum, or the sound of strings shrieking through the air? Bernard Herrmann’s music helped turn Psycho into an iconic film, but there’s far more to his score than the shower scene. You’ll hear this suspenseful suite of melodies at 6pm.

Like Norman Bates, Finnish folk hero Lemminkäinen also shared a special relationship with his mother. She brought him back from the dead after he tried to murder a magic swan, and Sibelius illustrates the dark legend in The Swan of Tuonela.

Our story-driven program also features the best of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and a bush tale from Australian composer Iain Grandage. He wrote Dances with Devils for award-winning percussionist Claire Edwardes – a sight to behold as she moves from one instrument to another, landing wherever the music takes her under the baton of conductor Benjamin Northey. It’s a visual and musical feast that has to be experienced first-hand.

Watch the livestream on Thursday 5 Jun 2025 6pm
Available on demand Thursday 19 June until Thursday 17 July

PROGRAM
Mozart, Don Giovanni, Overture
Sibelius, The Swan of Tuonela
Herrmann, Psycho Suite
Grandage, Dances with Devils (Percussion Concerto)

MUSICIANS
Conductor: Benjamin Northey
Percussion: Claire Edwardes
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Host: William Newbery

Federation Concert Hall, Nipaluna / Hobart