Embark on a Nordic musical journey with Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund, beginning with Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Excelsior! The music sounds cinematic, but the Swedish composer wrote it decades before the world had begun to experience the magic of the silver screen. Just over the border, Jean Sibelius enriched his Symphony No.2 with the heart of his Finnish homeland.

Melbourne pianist Andrea Lam brings this performance back home. You might have seen Lam as the star of hit ABC series The Piano, and now she’s performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as soloist. We’ve chosen a top-tier work for this top-tier pianist, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1. You’re bound to recognise it from the moment Lam starts playing those power chords that open the first movement. But if it’s new for you, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better concert to hear this smashing music for the first time.