When Australian genre-bending rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard decided to launch a U.S. tour — complete with orchestral accompaniment — to celebrate their newest album, they turned to a master of the classical-pop crossover.
Minnesota Orchestra conductor Sarah Hicks, with her prowess as a film-score specialist and as a collaborator with such musicians as Sting, Dessa and Smokey Robinson, was deemed the ideal fit for the band’s eight-date tour with seven different orchestras.
“The band searched the world for a conductor who works with other artists in this vein,” Hicks says of the genesis of her involvement. “I was sought out for my expertise — this isn’t unusual in the orchestral world, unlike other musical worlds.”
Hicks has never worked with King Gizzard, but “I have known their music,” she says. “The first album I heard was Flying Microtonal Banana [from 2017]. I was into mood music, and someone told me there’s this band working with an interesting sound world.”
It is a world Hicks has great appreciation for. “Their level of creativity — dropping five albums a year — it’s an astonishing approach to what it is to be an artist, to be connected with fans,” she says. “That philosophy, that spirit of artistry, I connect with that.”
Phantom Island, the album that inspired the tour, was an experimental foray by King Gizzard into the realm of classical accompaniment. “It was conceived with classical instruments to begin with and was meant to be performed with orchestral ensembles,” Hicks says.
If the part of the concerts focusing on Phantom Island is classically “bespoke,” as Hicks puts it, the other half comprises classical settings (by arranger Sean O’Laughlin) of other King Gizzard albums, “which really shows the scope of what they have to offer,” Hicks says.
Hicks has become an expert in recognizing what other musical genres have to offer.
“As a person who’s working in rock, country and pop, and being steeped in the orchestral tradition, it’s an incredible joy to bring worlds together,” she says. She loves when audiences “see their favorite artist through a new lens; it opens up ears and eyes to what their favorite music can sound like.
“For me, in a larger sense, it’s creating an incredible communal live experience.”
Hicks’ journey from youthful training as a classical violist and pianist and degrees in conducting to her current advocacy for expanding the musical vocabulary has been years in the making.
“It began 20 years ago when I did a concert with [the band] Pink Martini,” she explains. “It made me realize the scope of the orchestra, and I wanted to expand that universe.
“I’m a seeker — I’m afraid, and deeply desire, to try new things. That’s my internal conflict!” Hicks admits. “But to keep art forms moving forward and connect with other art forms — collaborating with visual arts and different genres — that’s my personal philosophy. That keeps me going, and I really want to create these experiences for people.”
She likes to think that of life’s “big experiences” — she lists religion, sports and music as examples — “music is the only unifying one. It’s a mission of mine, making sure I bring people together, anything I can do to accomplish that.”
Hicks, whose official title with the Minnesota Orchestra is Principal Conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall, will have her work cut out for her with the compressed tour schedule (July 28 to Aug. 11) and the aforementioned seven orchestras.
Hicks, the band and each orchestra will only have a two-and-a-half-hour rehearsal on the day of each show (except for the first show, in Philadelphia, which will get extra rehearsal time to work out any kinks). She’s excited to see the concerts come to life “after just being theoretical,” she says.
The King Gizzard tour is part of a larger pop-and-classical crossover trend. The duo Watchhouse has teamed up with the Colorado Symphony; the Americana band Steep Canyon Rangers plays next spring with the Nashville Symphony; singer-songwriter Faye Webster will finish up her current world tour with three concerts including full orchestral accompaniment; and Icelandic singer Laufey (who is also a classically trained and accomplished cellist) will bring an orchestra onstage in several stops on her current tour.
Hicks explains that it all just makes sense: From a business perspective, there’s been a desire over the past decade or so for orchestras to foster and nurture audiences outside of their core classical mission. And of the other half of the equation, she says, “Artists are realizing, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool, to bring our music to different audiences?’ It’s a symbiotic relationship from both directions.”
Hicks is looking forward to her relationship with the “Gizzverse.” “This is such a cool project, with a band that speaks in so many micro languages,” she says. “It’s really exciting to be able to see artists that keep pushing the boundary.
“That’s what music should be about, new ways of expression. It will be an incredible tour, and I’m really excited.”
Tour info
What: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Phantom Island tour, with orchestral accompaniment directed by Sarah Hicks
When: July 28, with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, TD Pavilion at the Mann, Philadelphia, Pa.; July 30, with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Westville Music Bowl, New Haven, Conn.; Aug. 1, with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Forest Hills Stadium Forest Hills, N.Y.; Aug. 4, with National Symphony Orchestra, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Md.; Aug. 6, with Chicago Philharmonic, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, Ill.; Aug. 8, with Colorado Symphony, Ford Amphitheatre, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Aug. 10, with Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, Calif.; Aug. 11, with San Diego Symphony, Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, San Diego, Calif.
Tickets: Varies by venue.
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