Christmas in the Quad

14 Dec, 7pm - Quadrangle

Book Now

BOOK NOW

Date: Monday 14 Decmber

Time: 7:00pm

Venue: Quadrangle, St George’s College

Christmas in the Quad returns as a much-loved end-of-year celebration, bringing music and community together in the beautiful surrounds of the St George’s College Quadrangle.

This outdoor concert offers a relaxed and festive evening of live music as the sun sets, featuring acclaimed soprano Emma Matthews, Dr Erin Royer (saxophone) alongside the West Coast Philharmonic Orchestra (WCPO) under the direction of Samuel Parry. Together they will present a programme of classical favourites and seasonal music suited to the open-air setting. Additional featured artists and full programme details will be announced to our mailing list.

Guests are invited to bring their own food, low chairs and picnic blankets, and enjoy an evening of music in one of Perth’s most picturesque collegiate settings. Christmas in the Quad has become a highlight of the College’s musical calendar, offering a welcoming and memorable way to mark the close of the year.

About

Christmas in the Quad returns as a much-loved celebration, bringing music and community together in the beautiful surrounds of the St George’s College Quadrangle.

This outdoor concert offers a relaxed and festive evening of live music as the sun sets, featuring acclaimed soprano Emma Matthews, Dr Erin Royer (saxophone) alongside the West Coast Philharmonic Orchestra (WCPO) under the direction of Samuel Parry. Together they will present a programme of classical favourites and seasonal music suited to the open-air setting. Additional featured artists and full programme details will be announced to our mailing list.
Guests are invited to bring their own food, low chairs and picnic blankets, and enjoy an evening of music in one of Perth’s most picturesque collegiate settings. Christmas in the Quad has become a highlight of the College’s musical calendar, offering a welcoming and memorable way to mark the close of the year.

Emma Matthews is one of Australia’s most highly awarded sopranos with a distinguished career across opera, concert and recital performance. Based in Western Australia, she performs with leading opera companies and orchestras internationally and serves as Head of Classical Voice and Opera Studies at WAAPA.

Dr Erin Royer is an internationally respected saxophonist and educator with a distinguished career across performance, research and teaching. Based in Western Australia, she performs with leading orchestras and ensembles internationally and serves as Head of Saxophone at the University of Western Australia.

Samuel Parry is a conductor and arts leader with a strong commitment to community engagement and accessible orchestral performance. Based in Western Australia, he is Music Director of the WA Charity Orchestra and works regularly with leading ensembles across performance and education

Artists

Emma Matthews

Australia’s most highly awarded soprano, Emma Matthews performs with all the Australian opera companies, orchestras and festivals, and is Head of Classical Voice and Opera Studies at West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Perth. She has won seven Helpmann Awards, nine Green Room Awards, the Remy Martin Australian Opera Award and Limelight Awards for Music Personality of the Year and Australian Artist of the Year.
Her repertoire includes the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Opera Australia); for Opera Australia: Lulu, Lakmé, Lucia di Lammermoor, Partenope, (title roles); Amina (La sonnambula), Philomele (The Love of the Nightingale), the four heroines (The Tales of Hoffmann), Violetta (La traviata), Fiorilla (The Turk in Italy), Gilda (Rigoletto), Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Almirena (Rinaldo), Morgana (Alcina), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Marie (La fille du regiment), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Zwaantie (Batavia), Leila (The Pearlfishers), Rosina (The Barber of Seville). She returned to Opera Australia in 2025 as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella and will star in their 2026 70th Birthday Galas.
Other highlights have included Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo conducted by Yakov Kreizberg and with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Ismene (Mitridate) for Sydney Festival.
Emma’s recordings include Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo (Deutsche Grammophon/ABC Classics), Mozart Arias and Agony and Ecstasy (ABC Classics) and Opera Australia productions of La traviata and Lakmé on DVD.

Samuel Parry

Samuel Parry is the music director of all the WACO ensembles, and founded the WA Charity Orchestra in 2008 at 18 years of age. Samuel was awarded the Pride of Australia Medal for his contribution to the community in 2017 through his work with WACO.
Samuel has a Bachelor of Music (Hons) in Multiple-Woodwind Performance and was the first student to graduate from WAAPA having studied flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone and bassoon in a single performance degree. His research into community and charity orchestras in Australia earned him first-class honours. In June of 2022, Sam completed a Masters in Teaching (Secondary) at Edith Cowan University.
He is a casual oboist with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Perth Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the WA Youth Orchestra, Fremantle Chamber Orchestra, WAAPA Faith Court Orchestra and UWA Symphony Orchestra.

Dr Erin Royer

Dr. Erin Royer is a Yamaha and Vandoren–endorsed saxophonist and educator based in Perth, Western Australia. She is Head of Saxophone at the University of Western Australia (UWA), founding director of UWA’s Junior Saxophone School, and maintains an active private teaching studio alongside a professional woodwind repair practice.
Dr. Royer completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at UWA in 2023, specialising in saxophone acoustics, and received honourable recognition on the Graduate Research School Dean’s List for exemplary research achievement. She has taught saxophone at UWA for over 12 years and has developed a comprehensive studio program encompassing individual tuition, specialised coursework, ensemble training, and the annual curation of multiple public performances.
As a performer, Dr. Royer is an internationally respected saxophonist, having appeared at six major international saxophone conventions worldwide, most recently performing at the 2025 World Saxophone Congress in Harbin, China. She works as a casual saxophonist with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Perth Symphony Orchestra, and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and maintains a diverse freelance performance practice across solo, chamber, orchestral, and contemporary contexts.
Her Perth-based performance activity includes solo recitals and collaborations with leading ensembles such as the award-winning Perth Sax Rockers, Perth Cabaret Collective, Perth Pocket Big Band, Artemis Orchestra, Corella Saxophone Quartet, and Perth Tango Orchestra. She is also actively engaged in the development of the Western Australian music community through initiatives including the UWA Junior Saxophone School, UWA Day of Wind, and the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of WA.
Dr. Royer is deeply committed to artistic development through the commissioning and creation of new repertoire for the saxophone. Over the past 11 years, she has commissioned and premiered significant new works by Australian and international composers, including large-scale projects for saxophone and electronics. She is also an active composer and continues to facilitate the creation of new saxophone repertoire annually.
Through her work as a performer, educator, and artistic leader, Dr. Royer is dedicated to advancing contemporary saxophone practice and positioning Perth as a nationally and internationally recognised centre for saxophone performance and innovation.

WCPO

The West Coast Philharmonic is an orchestra of 50+ music-loving volunteer musicians, who come together to create brilliant performances for our community. The orchestra performs a variety of traditional, much-loved symphonic repertoire alongside contemporary, film and Australian music.
Over the past decade, the orchestra has performed Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Tchakovsky’s 1812 Overture and Symphony No. 5, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, as well as music from The Lord of the Rings, How To Train Your Dragon, Indiana Jones, The Lion King, Bohemian Rhapsody and much more.

The West Coast Philharmonic is a community orchestra of volunteer musicians with a strong commitment to accessible and engaging symphonic performance. Based in Western Australia, the orchestra presents a wide-ranging repertoire spanning classical, contemporary, film and Australian music.

Programme

Programme details will be announced in due course. Join our mailing list below to stay informed and receive notification when the final programme is confirmed.