A FOND & FITTING FAREWELL
Darwin Symphony Orchestra (DSO) bids adieu to both the 2025 season and Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Jon Tooby, with special end-of-year and end-of-tenure performance.
WORDS TIERNEY WHITE
SINCE JUNE 2018, Jon Tooby has led the DSO through seven-and-a-half seasons, overseen the return of the orchestra to AANT Centre (formerly Darwin Entertainment Centre), and embarked on a Territory tour down the track for the first time in a decade – which was no small feat, with about 70 musicians and crew in tow.
Now, the time has come for Tooby to pass on the baton, to be picked up by Richard Mills AO in 2026. But not before one more special night of incredible music.
Symphony of the Soul presents three of his all-time favourites, Bernstein’s Candide Overture, Weber’s Bassoon Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6. Tooby says both joy and nostalgia inspired the set list.
“I mean, they are all awesome pieces. Tchaikovsky's 6th is just a standout classic, I remember playing it as an 18-year-old and just being so moved by it, even as a teenager. It really is a roller coaster ride embodying all human emotion, a totally gripping work,” he says.
“And the other two pieces, the Bernstein and the Weber, are just really fun, sort of celebratory, in a way, and really infused with just goodness and joy.”
After splitting his time between Darwin and Perth over the years, where his home and family is based, Tooby says he’s got mixed feelings about calling time in the Top End.
“I'm not really leaving because I want to go, I'm leaving because it's time, it's the right time … My circumstances have changed. My girls have moved out, my wife Penny is alone [in Perth], and that's been really hard, particularly this year. But this will always have a place in my heart, for sure, and I absolutely have no doubt I'll be visiting.”
As they say, all good things must come to an end, and Tooby looks back on his experience with gratitude.
“I think, generally speaking, it's been all the First Nations collaborations we've done. I think specifically Yuwani, which we did back in 2019, that was a real mind-blowing experience. But then, The Djari Project with Netanela [Mizrahi] has been amazing,” he says.
“I have been in the profession for over 40 years now, and so coming to DSO really put me in front of the volunteer/pro-am musician space for the first time. This experience really awakened me to a whole new level of passion and commitment which, even though it may not always be perfect, somehow brings a special, unique, and positive energy to the stage which I've found totally intoxicating. “
As Beethoven famously said, ‘a note played out of tune is bad, but a note played without passion is inexcusable’, and I think those kinds of things have really opened my eyes … We always strive to do our best. There's no question, but the energy and the music itself has been amazing.”
Tooby says it’s been a fun ride, but there’s one person in particular that’s made his time so memorable.
“I will also miss my colleague and co-conspirator Kate Stephens. I feel the DSO is enjoying such prosperity now, largely because of the decisions we made together, as a team. The fact that we got on so well was just the icing on the cake.”
Gather your music-loving ensemble and experience this special evening of stunning music, as Tooby’s DSO curtain drops one last time.
Symphony of the Soul
WHEN SAT 6 DEC | 7.30PM
AT AANT CENTRE
COST $22-$65 | $152 FAM
INFO dso.org.au
Image: Hannah Herbert
