The Leeuwin Estate Concert Series are annual open-air events featuring international and Australian performers at Leeuwin Estate Winery.
History
The first concert was a performance from the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985, with the Australian tour underwritten by Leeuwin Estate owners Denis and Tricia Horgan on the condition that the orchestra play at Leeuwin Estate. Hosting the concert was considered a risk due to the physically remote location of the Margaret River, being 260 kilometres from the state capital of Perth. Friends tried to talk the Horgans out of the idea, but they went ahead and the concert was a great success, with 5000 people attending and the event attracting international coverage.
The next two concerts also featured orchestras, with the Berlin Staatskapelle performing in 1986 and the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1987. In 1988 the series featured its first individual star, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra could not attend and instead Ray Charles was brought in to perform with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. The West Australian Symphony Orchestra has featured eight further times since accompanying other musicians.
In 1990 Leeuwin Estate hosted Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, with other stars Diana Ross and Tom Jones performing in 1992 and 1993 respectively. 1993 also saw the first iteration of the "Australian Family Concert" series featuring Australian performers at a separate event each year.
In February 2005, a concert was performed by Sting that drew an audience of 6,000 and raised over $4 million for the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami relief efforts after Sting had to cancel a scheduled concert in Sri Lanka due to the disaster.
The 26th year of the series in 2010 saw Boz Scaggs & Michael McDonald perform in front of a sold-out crowd of 6500 people.
The concert has become a major tourism draw for the Margaret River and Western Australia. Denis Horgan was awarded with a Centenary Medal and both he and Tricia Horgan were inducted as Members of the Order of Australia in 2001 for services to tourism in Western Australia.
Leeuwin Concert Series
The following is a list of the performers and the year of the concert.
Year Performer 1985 The London Philharmonic Orchestra 1986 The Berlin Staatskapelle 1987 The Royal Danish Orchestra 1988 Ray Charles and The West Australian Symphony Orchestra 1989 Dionne Warwick and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 1990 Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, James Galway and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 1991 The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra 1992 Diana Ross 1993 Tom Jones 1994 Julia Migenes, Perrin Allen and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 1995 George Benson, Fab Four 1996 Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 1997 Shirley Bassey and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra 1998 Julio Iglesias 1999 Bryn Terfel, Yvonne Kenny and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 2000 Michael Crawford and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 2001 Roberta Flack 2002 John Farnham 2003 k.d. lang 2003 Picnic in the Vineyard with James Taylor 2004 Lesley Garrett & Anthony Warlow with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra 2005 Sting 2005 Jack Johnson 2006 Amici Forever & Jane Rutter 2007 Simply Red 2008 Yvonne Kenny, David Hobson & The West Australian Symphony Orchestra 2009 Chris Isaak 2010 Boz Scaggs & Michael McDonald 2011 Roxy Music 2012 Marina Prior, David Hobson and The Perth Symphony Orchestra 2013 Carole King 2014 Diana Krall and The Perth Symphony Orchestra2015Bryn Terfel, Rachelle Durkin with special guest Lisa McCune & The Perth Symphony Orchestra2016Chris Isaak2017James Taylor & His All Star Band2018Jackson Browne2019Paul Kelly2020No concert2021No concert2022No concert
Australian Family Concerts
The following is a list of performers and years as part of the annual Australian Family Concerts.
Year Performer 1993 Kate Ceberano and friends 1994 Yothu Yindi 1995 Black Sorrows and Vika and Linda Bull 1996 Paul Kelly and Joan Armatrading 1997 Yothu Yindi 1999 The Whitlams 2000 Paul Kelly, Uncle Bill and Kasey Chambers 2001 Tex Perkins and Jimmy Little 2002 The Waifs and Oh Susanna 2003 Mahotella Queens 2004 The Waifs 2005 The Waifs 2006 The John Butler Trio 2006 Alex Lloyd 2007 Kate Ceberano 2008 The John Butler Trio & The Waifs 2009 The Waifs 2010 The John Butler Trio 2011 Pete Murray and Passenger 2012 N/A 2013 The John Butler Trio 2014 Pete Murray 2015 Bernard Fanning2016John Butler Trio & The Waifs2017Bernard Fanning20182019John Butler & Missy Higgins
References
External links Leeuwin Estate – Concerts and Events