St George’s Cathedral, Perth, has announced its 2019 Concert Series, with Bach featuring prominently and the debut of a new piano. For the Series’ Artistic Director, the Cathedral’s Organist and Master of the Choristers Joseph Nolan, programming the series is about “trying to keep the old things new.”

The series opens in April with an old, but well-loved thing indeed, Bach’s St Matthew Passion. “It’s a cornerstone really of Western music culture,” Nolan told Limelight. “It’s just an incredible story and Bach just tells it better than anybody else can.”

Joseph Nolan, Artistic Director of the St George’s Cathedral Concert Series. Photo © Russell Barton

The performance in Perth Concert Hall will see the Cathedral collaborating with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for the first time. “It’s terrific that we’re actually collaborating with WASO on this,” Nolan said. “That gives you some idea of the impact that the consort has had now upon the city, that the main players in town – and that is the symphony orchestra – will take on a collaboration with the Cathedral.”

May will see another first, with...