The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will mark its 121st year in 2027 with a season combining major symphonic repertoire, new Australian commissions, international artists and performances designed to broaden access to orchestral music across Melbourne and Victoria.<\/p>\n
by Paul Cashmere<\/p>\n
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra\u2019s 2027 season will open with Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony as the orchestra marks the 200th anniversary of the composer\u2019s death, while the year will also feature 13 world premieres of MSO commissions, the Australian premiere of Brett Dean\u2019s The World\u2019s Wife and the appointment of Melbourne-born conductor Nicholas Carter as Chief Guest Conductor.<\/p>\n
The season, announced on Monday, August 10, continues the MSO\u2019s programming emphasis on Australian composition alongside established European repertoire. It also includes collaborations with Australian artists including Troy Cassar-Daley, William Barton and Stan Grant, as well as international conductors and soloists making their Australian or MSO debuts.<\/p>\n
MSO Chief Executive Richard Wigley said the orchestra\u2019s focus remained centred on the concert experience and the repertoire.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we continue the journey from our 120th year towards our 125th, we do so with a clear sense of purpose,\u201d Wigley said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about great music.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief Conductor Jaime Mart\u00edn will begin his sixth season with the orchestra by conducting three Beethoven works, culminating in the Ninth Symphony and its setting of Friedrich Schiller\u2019s \u201cOde to Joy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Across the season, Mart\u00edn will also conduct programmes pairing Schubert with Mahler, Mozart with Brahms, Rachmaninov with Dvo\u0159\u00e1k, Mozart with the Mendelssohns, and Sibelius with Shostakovich.<\/p>\n
One of the season\u2019s contemporary highlights will be the Australian premiere of The World\u2019s Wife by Australian composer Brett Dean. The MSO co-commission premiered at the 2026 BBC Proms with British soprano Claire Booth, who will also make her MSO debut in 2027.<\/p>\n
Other major programmes include Britten, Elgar & Walton, featuring William Walton\u2019s Belshazzar\u2019s Feast and Elgar\u2019s Cello Concerto with Li-Wei Qin. Symphonic Swing will combine classical and jazz traditions, with Clark Rundell conducting the Australian premiere of Wynton Marsalis\u2019 Trumpet Concerto, featuring Austrian trumpeter Selina Ott in her MSO debut. The programme also includes music by George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein and a new commission from Australian composer Vanessa Perica.<\/p>\n
The international roster includes French conductor Chlo\u00e9 van Soeterst\u00e8de, Venezuelan conductor Rodolfo Barr\u00e1ez, British pianist Paul Lewis and Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu, the MSO\u2019s 2027 Featured Artist. Japanese conductor Yutaka Sado, Finnish conductor Eva Olikainen, South Korean violinist Inmo Yang and British-Singaporean mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron will make their Australian debuts with the orchestra.<\/p>\n
Australian composition is central to the season. Among the MSO commissions is a new work by former MSO Composer in Residence Mary Finsterer with librettist Tom Wright, drawing on transcripts from the 1431 heresy trial of Joan of Arc. Benjamin Northey will conduct the world premiere, with the National Boys Choir of Australia and Trinity College Choir.<\/p>\n
Composer Yitzhak Yedid\u2019s The Valley of the Dry Bones, with a libretto by Stan Grant, will receive its world premiere with Eugene Ughetti conducting the MSO, MSO Chorus and The Consort of Melbourne. The work was commissioned through the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship Alumni Commissioning program.<\/p>\n
The season also expands the MSO\u2019s artistic leadership with Nicholas Carter becoming Chief Guest Conductor. Carter, who serves as General Music Director of the Staatsoper and Staatsorchester Stuttgart, will conduct Strauss & Schumann and Bruckner\u2019s Eighth Symphony.<\/p>\n
Carter has a longstanding connection with the orchestra and Melbourne. \u201cThe MSO gave me my first experience of orchestral music and first inspired me to become a conductor,\u201d he said. \u201cTo return as Chief Guest Conductor is an enormous privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond Hamer Hall, the MSO will continue its community and regional programming, including no-cost and low-cost performances, education initiatives and community-led events. The Sidney Myer Free Concerts will return, with the opening concert curated by Noongar artist Aaron Wyatt and featuring a new work by William Barton.<\/p>\n
The 2027 season will also include A Midwinter Feast, Classical Spectacular, a NAIDOC Week collaboration with Troy Cassar-Daley, and performances of Mahler\u2019s Das Lied von der Erde and Fourth Symphony.<\/p>\n
For Mart\u00edn, the season is intended to balance familiar repertoire with new music and artists.<\/p>\n
\u201c2027 will offer something to surprise, move and inspire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The MSO enters its 121st year with a programme that places established orchestral works alongside a substantial commitment to Australian creation, while continuing its efforts to bring live symphonic music beyond the traditional concert hall.<\/p>\n
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