The Wreckers

An orchestral concert of queer interruptions

Inspired by queer interjections into mainstream classical music, the Adelaide Queer Orchestra Project offers a programme that irreverently pushes against the expectations and limitations of orchestral presentation. It challenges the invisibility of queer music and people within the classical tradition, by exploring the relationships between sexuality, composition and performance, both past and present.

The Wreckers is part of this programme and showcases the work of queer composers and musicians. It begins with Australian composer Alex Turley’s Efflorescence, followed by Tansy Davies’s saxophone concerto Iris, and Pauline Oliveros’s to Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe, “In Recognition Of Their Desperation.” The second half features the work of Shoshanna Rosenberg and Iran Sanadzadeh, as well as Dan Thorpe’s newly commissioned concerto for cello and tactile electronics. The concert closes with a piece from its namesake —Dame Ethel Smyth’s Prelude to the Wreckers.