As we celebrate 50 years of WAYO in 2024, we chatted to some of our Alumni to catch up on what they’ve been up to, and their memories from their WA Youth Orchestras experience.

“WAYO is the reason I’m a musician. The experiences I had under the batons of Richard Gill and Roy Rimmer for me exemplified what music is about. They were uninhibited, committed and passionate – probably not note perfect, but we were made to feel that anything was possible. That stays with me still.”

Iain Grandage

WAYO 1984 – 1986
Chamber Orchestra 1989

Iain Grandage recently completed a five year tenure (2020-2024)  as Artistic Director of the Perth Festival where he was celebrated for bringing a sweeping sense of place to the Festivals he curated.  Previously, he has been Artistic Director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, curated the fine music program for the Adelaide Festival (Chamber Landscapes) and been Composer-in-Residence with the WA Symphony Orchestra and Youth Orchestras Australia. He has received the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from UWA and is the 2023 West Australian of the Year for Culture & the Arts.

Over his 30 year career in the performing arts, he has become one of Australia’s most highly regarded collaborative artists. He has been music director for large scale events for Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Festivals, and has an extensive track record of collaboration with Indigenous artists across the country. He has won Helpmann Awards for his compositions for Theatre (Cloudstreet, Secret River), for Dance (When Time Stops), for Opera – with Kate Miller-Heidke (The Rabbits), for silent film – with Rahayu Suppangah (Satan Jawa) and as a music director for Meow Meow’s Little Match Girl and Secret River. 

Iain’s orchestral work, Out of Time was commissioned for WAYO’s 30th birthday in 2004, and since that première has been performed regularly by WAYO, including on tours to Asia and Europe, delighting audiences worldwide. The work received a reprise as part of WAYO’s 50th anniversary gala concerts in 2024 to packed audiences at the Perth Concert Hall.

“I grew up inside youth orchestras, being in the WA Youth Orchestra across my secondary schooling, and then AYO through much of my tertiary education. I loved it. It felt like home. Surrounded by like-minded people who felt the same rush of excitement and joy at being part of an organism that was so much more than the sum of its individual parts. We laughed and wept together, falling in love with orchestral music and each other in equal part. More than thirty years later, I am still close contact with many friends from this time – they are life-long connections forged and life-changing experiences gained.”

Iain Grandage