a2. orchestra was founded in 2022 by conductor and double bassist Josh Spirek and oboist Aiden Labuschagne, while both were studying music in Perth, Western Australia. The Orchestra was established with the aim of creating opportunities for young musicians to perform substantial orchestral repertoire alongside their tertiary studies, while providing soloists and emerging composers with the opportunity to work with a full ensemble. The Orchestra gave its first concert, Cadenza, in 2022. Featuring eleven musicians, the programme brought together six solo works with orchestral accompaniment alongside a world premiere. From its earliest performances, a2. sought to present programmes that placed established repertoire alongside new and lesser-known works, with an emphasis on giving musicians meaningful performance experience and audiences engaging programmes. In the years that followed, the Orchestra expanded both its personnel and repertoire. Its programmes have ranged from the symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn to large-scale Romantic repertoire, chamber arrangements and contemporary works. Performances have included Beethoven s Symphony No. 7, Tchaikovsky s 1812 Overture, Mozart s Symphony No. 25, Haydn s Symphony No. 44 and Dvořák s American Quartet, alongside newly commissioned and arranged works. As the Orchestra developed, its activities increasingly moved beyond the model of a university ensemble. a2. began to bring together musicians from across Perth s professional and emerging orchestral community, creating an ensemble capable of performing repertoire on a larger scale while retaining the collaborative character on which it was founded. Central to a2.’s development has been its approach to programming. Rather than relying solely on obvious thematic or historical relationships, the Orchestra seeks to uncover unexpected connections between works, composers and musical ideas. Programmes are developed around relationships that may emerge through musical structure, artistic ideas, historical context or the ways in which different works approach a common question. In this way, familiar repertoire can be placed alongside less frequently performed works to create programmes in which the individual pieces illuminate one another in unexpected ways. The Orchestra has also developed a growing commitment to new Australian music and collaboration with emerging artists. Its programmes have featured world premieres and new arrangements, alongside repertoire from the established orchestral canon. These projects form part of a broader aim to create opportunities for musicians and composers while presenting ambitious orchestral programmes to Perth audiences. In 2026, a2. orchestra established an outreach programme working directly with high school orchestras. Through the programme, musicians from a2. sit side-by-side with student musicians in rehearsal and performance, providing practical orchestral experience while working alongside the students as members of the ensemble. The programme extends the Orchestra s commitment to creating meaningful musical opportunities and strengthening connections between emerging musicians and the wider orchestral community. In 2026, a2. orchestra entered its fifth year. The Orchestra is now run by its founding conductor Josh Spirek and Charlotte Greenway, continuing to develop its artistic direction and expand its activities within Perth s musical community. The Orchestra s development has been accompanied by an expanding artistic identity. Its name, a2., reflects its origins while its visual identity has evolved alongside the ensemble. The Orchestra s current identity centres on a field of 120 musicians represented as individual points, forming an orchestral semicircle and suggesting both the collective nature of an orchestra and the possibilities that emerge when individual musicians come together. a2. orchestra continues to develop as an independent orchestral ensemble in Perth, presenting ambitious programmes that connect established repertoire with contemporary music, new arrangements and emerging artists. Five years after its first concert, the Orchestra remains committed to creating substantial performance opportunities for musicians, developing the next generation of orchestral players and presenting orchestral music in ways that are engaging, ambitious and relevant to its audiences.