Welcome to the fourth concert of the year with the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra! This concert features the world premiere of Andrew Howes' Lyrebird Concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra, with the talented Alice Morgan as soloist, and the ever-popular The Planets suite by Holst.
About the composer, Andrew Howes:
Andrew Howes is a Sydney-based composer with a profound fascination with creating music deriving its initial artistic intent form the ever present natural forces of the Australian Landscape. After the Clifton Parker Award afforded him the opportunity to study with Alison Kay and Simon Holt at the Royal College of Music, London, he moved to New York to complete his Master’s with Susan Botti at the Manhattan School of Music, where in 2017 he won the Manhattan Prize. Andrew has become an in demand arranger and orchestrator. During 2020-2022, he created several arrangements for the concert series Live at Yours, for performers including Vatche Jambazian, Emily Granger, Kristian Winther, Konstantin Shamray, Umberto Clerici, Stephanie Farrands, Andrew Haveron and Simon Tedeschi. Since 2011, he has also orchestrated several works for performance by the Sydney Symphony, including songs for Josh Pyke’s Live at the Sydney Opera House album, and several songs for the 2023 World Pride 'Blak & Deadly' Gala. He is also an arranger and copyist for several high-profile composers in Australia and the UK.
Andrew enjoys working with a wide range of ensembles and his works have been performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Enigma & Kristian Winther Quartets, the Australian and Sydney Youth Orchestras, Voces8, the Song Company, the Omega Ensemble and Moorambilla Voices, where he has been composer-in-residence six times.
He is a passionate music educator, and outside of classroom and individual teaching, has performed key roles in the APRA AMCOS National Excellence - Education awarded Moorambilla Magic Modules, authored education kits for the Sydney Symphony, administered several competitions for young composers, and regularly delivers lectures for adults on the subject of Classical and new Australian music.
About the soloist, Alice Morgan:
Alice Morgan is a Sydney/Eora-based musician, educator and producer, performing regularly across Australia and with international performance experience spanning across Germany, Austria, Italy and New Zealand. Described as “sublime, full of colour and life” (Stuart Greenbaum), Alice is known for championing Australian music, having premiered and recorded works by leading composers including Holly Harrison, Paul Stanhope, Stuart Greenbaum, Elizabeth Jigalin, Alice Chance, Damien Ricketson, Kirsten Milenko, Katia Geha, and Andrew Howes.
Since her nomination for the renowned Freedman Fellowship, Alice has become a prominent voice in the Australian music scene. She performs extensively across Australia, frequently appearing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as Guest Principal Saxophone. Alice appeared as concerto soloist internationally with the Resonance Ensemble in Tony Ryan’s Concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra in Christchurch, New Zealand, and locally with Ensemble Apex in Ibert’s Concertino da Camera. Alice has also appeared with the NSSO on many occasions, in our Sunset Concert series, and also in our performances of works by Bizet, Gershwin, and Mussorgky.
Alice has a particular affinity for chamber music. She was named Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Associate Artist in 2024, and is a regular collaborator with the Bowerbird Collective. As a chamber musician she has appeared in concerts across Australia, including the world premiere of Andrew Howes’ The Eyes of the Earth for saxophone and string quartet at the Lyrebird Festival. In 2025, Alice performed on King Island for the Moonbird Festival with the Bowerbird Collective and accordion virtuoso James Crabb.
Alongside her performing career Alice is a keen educator, having presented masterclasses at both the Melbourne Conservatorium of Musicand Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and in 2026 presented a program of works and masterclasses at the Aotearoa Classical Saxophone Summer School at the University of Auckland. Alice is a tutor at the NSW Department of Education Arts Unit, and has been a private saxophone tutor for over a decade. Alice is also an experienced producer and orchestral manager as one of the founding members of Ensemble Apex. She has been a loyal part of the production team for many of their successful concerts since the group’s formation, ranging from RUEL x Red Bull Symphonic at the Sydney Town Hall to Verdi’s Requiem at Judith Neilson’s award-winning gallery, Dangrove.
About The Planets:
Many listeners will be familiar with Gustav Holst's The Planets - interestingly, he advised that there was no programmatic element to it, and just the subtitles should be sufficient to guide the listener. Holst's own imagination had been influenced by a wide range of music, from English folk songs to the romanticism of Saint-Saëns and to the harmony and orchestral scale of Stravinsky. Each planet evokes a vastly different scene, and although Holst’s musico-spatial explorations may not be cosmic, but they are brilliant, dramatic, and picturesque enough to fit into almost anyone’s concert hall horoscope.