Colourful music from a forgotten colourful character.

Chief Conductor Jaime Martín discusses the season which includes 17 new works, including three by Composer in Residence Mary Finsterer, while soprano Siobhan Stagg is Artist in Residence.

Melissa Douglas will spend 12 months with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2023 as the first female Cybec Young Composer in Residence.

Australian and women composers figure prominently in a season that is as inclusive as it is adventurous.

From the jubilant opening of Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila Overture to the majesty of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, this was the TSO at its finest.

Orchestras need to get with the times if they are to attract a younger, broader demographic. We look at the challenges they face and some of the initiatives that are bearing fruit.

The former oboist and Artistic Director of Garsington Opera discusses conducting Beethoven’s nine symphonies in two weeks for Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Male soprano Samuel Mariño discusses increasing gender fluidity in opera and the roles he’d love to play, including Violetta in La Traviata.

Michael Pisani, Principal Cor Anglais at Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, didn’t even own the instrument when he was first offered the chance to play it. Now he is about to perform a new work by Anne Cawrse.

Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé deliver a characterful, colourful tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams.

This musical program of mixed works had its moments but lacked the essential ingredients for a genuinely magical celebration.

Conductor Asher Fisch led more like a general heedless of his own safety in this magnificent reading of one of the 20th century’s most profound compositions.