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Somewhat distracted by the chirping woodwind during a break in rehearsals, Ed Kuepper admits he never imagined having the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) as his backing band.
He and about 50 QSO musicians rehearsed together for the first time on Friday, ahead of a one-off performance on Saturday night at The Tivoli in Brisbane.
"It's both exciting and slightly nerve-racking," Kuepper said.
"I've never done anything like this before."
For a man who made his name as lead guitarist in iconic 1970s Brisbane band The Saints, ahead of a solo career spanning four decades and more than 50 albums, it comes as a surprise to still be breaking new ground.
"As marvellous as I am, I'm not as popular as Elton John and so it's not like I could just say 'I want an orchestra for this show'," Kuepper said.
"The expense of doing that is absurd, so I think a musician in my position, you look at what you can do at a certain point in time and make that work.
"You don't want to send yourself broke if you can avoid it."
But he quickly jumped at the offer from QSO artistic planning director Richard Wenn to be a part of their QSOCurrent program, mixing classical ensembles with contemporary performers.
Composer Robert Davidson worked out the orchestral arrangements, which Kuepper had not heard played before Friday.
Mr Wenn said in this setting Kuepper was effectively a concerto soloist under the baton of conductor Richard Davis.
"He [Kuepper] is our concert pianist or our violinist or our singer in an orchestral symphonic cycle of music where the voice is featured," Mr Wenn said.
"Everything will be supporting him, so he's not having to worry about the orchestra at all, he's just got to worry about being Ed.
"The musicians can play anything at sight off the page and somebody like Rob writes so well it's not going to be complex.
"The issue is going to be adjusting for Ed so he feels comfortable having 50, 60 musicians behind him."
Kuepper admits working with a conductor takes some getting used to.
"Normally I take the role of conductor — somebody else conducting it is odd.
"Richard is great, although we've only gone through a few songs, but he's made the process relatively painless."
He will play electric guitar, but does not expect it to overpower the orchestra.
"I'm reasonably sympathetic to the notion that they're all acoustic," he said.
"I'm using a relatively small amplifier. I usually these days don't play incredibly loudly onstage anyway."
They will be playing 15 songs, including several from Kuepper's 2015 album Lost Cities, along with a few older favourites.
Topics: orchestral, rock, brisbane-4000