Horns a Plenty

The concert will open with the overture to Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio (originally Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love), the final of four different overtures written over almost a decade. This will be followed by Haunted Hills, a symphonic poem composed in 1950 by one of Australia's best-known composers, Margaret Sutherland AO OBE.

Opal: Double Concerto for Horns and Orchestra was premiered in 2021 by the MSO's Nicolas Fleury and Rachel Shaw. We're delighted to both present this work with the same soloists and have an opportunity to once again perform a work by May Lyon. As the 2016 Zelman Symphony / University of Melbourne Emerging Composer, May wrote Nornir Concerto for Viola to Violin. Featuring violinist and violist Kat Tsyrlin, its theme was "The Three Norns" (female goddesses) from Norse mythology.

The night will conclude with Brahms' acclaimed First Symphony. In 1876, after 21 years and numerous drafts, Brahms proclaimed it was finally a worthy successor to Beethoven’s symphonies.