Darwin Symphony Orchestra to tour Territory-wide in 2025

Darwin Symphony Orchestra’s ambitious 2025 season includes its first Territory-wide tour in a decade and the premiere of a formidable new work for Darwin Festival. This will also mark the final year for current Artistic Director/Chief Conductor Jonathan Tooby, who has taken the adage about leaving at the top of one’s game to heart.

“We’ve had four paid principals in the Orchestra up until the end of this year: the principal first and second violin, viola and cello. And as of next year, we will have 13 principals, so a principal bass added to that, the woodwinds, horn, trumpet, trombone and percussion. So it’s a real game changer for this Orchestra. Of course, it’s not fully professional and it will always have that wonderful sort of community volunteer element, which is, I think, in many ways it’s strength, because of this huge commitment that we get from these players. They really love being there and being challenged by sometimes quite difficult repertoire,” Tooby explains.