Celebrated young Spanish violinist María Dueñas makes her Australian debut in two major orchestral appearances with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. She first joins the MSO under Chief Conductor Jaime Martín in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, paired with the Australian premiere of Melody Eötvös’s The Deciding Machine and Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra. Dueñas then joins the SSO and conductor Alexander Soddy for Bruch’s First Violin Concerto in a program that also features UK organist Anna Lapwood in her Australian debut playing Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony (see below).

Limelight Editor’s Choice

When the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ roars to life the sound will shake the Concert Hall with its deep, resonant power – and just wait until you hear Anna Lapwood play. Her playing is technically brilliant, but her warmth and contagious energy makes this an unmissable event.

Bruch’s First Violin Concerto is one of the most beautiful ever written. From the brooding and impassioned opening to the lyricism and rhythmic fire of the second movement, this music asks the soloist to be storyteller and expert technician – and at just 22 years old, violinist María Dueñas is both. Already making waves with her focused intensity, The Strad calls her playing ‘poetic and magnetic.’