One of the highlights at this year’s Four Winds Festival is the premier of an original piece by composer James Ledger.

His work, titled The Natural Church, is inspired by Shakespeare's sonnet #73. 

“The imagery in this sonnet describes ‘bare ruined choirs’ and ‘boughs which shake against the cold’- referring to a ruined church or cathedral and the analogy to a tree-lined avenue in winter,” Mr Ledger said.  

“I found this imagery to be highly provocative and so the idea of a ‘natural church’ came to mind.”

The piece consists of musical arches that repeat, but each repetition is slightly altered - mirroring the imperfections in a repeating structure, or the boughs in a line of trees.

With an ensemble featuring 14 instruments – essentially one of each instrument from a symphony orchestra - this is Mr Ledger’s first foray into a chamber orchestra of this size. 

He said the current status of orchestral music in Australia is quite healthy.

“However, there are always threats to the survival of orchestras, so they have to keep their performance and business models evolving,” Mr Ledger said.  

“So this is why we see orchestral concerts in collaboration with pop musicians; film and broadway performances and so on.”

Mr Ledger will discuss The Natural Church at the Four Winds site in Barragga Bay on March 26 at 11.30am before it is premiered at the site on March 27 at 11.25am.