Tasmania's Jabra Latham to star in world premiere

The concerto has been commissioned by the TSO, with funding support from a group of music-loving friends who are supporters of the TSO.

Over the past decade, Latham has written several works for the orchestra, include Fire Music, Images of Tasmania and Antarctic Triptych, which was selected as the Mornings program theme on ABC Classic.

As a classical saxophonist, Latham also performs regularly with the TSO, including in the orchestra’s Obscura at the Odeon series.

With his new concerto for saxophone and orchestra, Latham’s aim was to create a piece in which the ‘instrument served the music’, not the other way around.

‘It's not all about the saxophone, or all about me, or all about fast fingers. I wanted to write music that moves the audience, with the soloist being one element that contributes to that,’ Latham says.

Knowing the musicians of the TSO personally has made the writing process more enjoyable.

‘I do imagine the people on the instruments, which is fun and really nice,’ says Latham, who prefers not to dictate how audiences should interpret his work.

‘While some of compositions have particular, and often explicit, narratives, with this concerto I wanted the audience to be able to connect with the music in their own way, without preconceived expectations of how the music is supposed to make them think or feel,’ he says.

Latham’s concerto will feature in the TSO’s Dance Macabre concert at 6pm on Thursday 13 March 2025.