The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) has announced its 2026 program, a milestone year marking its 30th anniversary and its final year with Paavali Jumppanen as its Artistic Director. The Finnish pianist, named Artistic Director in 2021 after he “fell in love” with ANAM after his first 2010 visit, will be succeeded in 2026 by Anna Goldsworthy.

ANAM Sketches. Photo © Neil Bennett

Says Jumppanen: “We look back with a sense of pride and accomplishment; we look to the present day with keen curiosity and observation; and most importantly, we look to our future with optimism and excitement.”

ANAM’s flagship event for 2026 is its Gala, which sees legendary Australian conductor Simone Young tackle Gubaidulina’s Fairytale Poem, Adams’ Chamber Symphony, Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration and the Australian premiere of György Kurtàg’s Fin de Partie, Epilogue.

Kurtàg, the veteran Hungarian contemporary composer, also sees a staggering milestone in 2026 – his 100th birthday. ANAM celebrates the occasion with its Kurtàg & Friends concert on 18 March with a program of music from him and contemporaries including Bartók, Ligeti and Schumann.

There’s a range of international and Australian artists that mark 2026 for ANAM. The Polish Lutosławski Quartet arrives in Melbourne for two ANAM performances with in June. ANAM students perform with ELISION Ensemble in two September programs (one of which includes a brand new work by Welsh composer Richard Barrett), Ensemble Offspring, the Affinity Quartet (in Haydn’s The Seven Last Works of Christ) and with Arcadia Winds in a program airing a brand new work by Lachlan Skipworth.

Paavali Jumppanen. Photo © Mark Bond

The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Richard Tognetti also features in two performances with the ANAM Orchestra in June. The first program features works by Alex Turley, Ives, Crawford-Seeger and Schoenberg; the second presents Mahler’s Fourth Symphony as its centrepiece. On 13 November, Danish conductor Giordano Bellincampi will lead the orchestra through a program of Viennese masterworks.

Musical highlights also include a performance of Schubert’s Octet on 25 March (repeated with work from Pärt and Kate Moore on 27 March), Missy Mazzoli’s song cycle Millennium Canticles on 15 May, Messiaen’s Vingt Regards on 28 May, an Alban Berg deep dive on 21 August, and an examination of the works of Clara and Robert Schumann on 15 October.

French brass gets a showcase in 8 May’s Interstellar Call, as does Spanish piano in 24 September’s The Spanish Piano.

Shared Memories, on 20 November, is a farewell concert to Jumpannen after five years in the Artistic Director chair. In it, he examines the Finnish and Hungarian traditions that have shaped contemporary classical music, with music from Bartók, Rautavaara, Enescu and Tarkianen.

ANAM students will also be found in a variety of external performances across the year: they round out the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for Mahler Six on 9 April, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Titan on 18 March, the Melbourne Symphony for performances with violinist Nemanja Radulovič (21–23 May) and the Auckland Philharmonic for its program with pianist Sophia Liu on 15 October.

Mostly Mozart is back at the Melbourne Recital Centre, and ANAM will also return to Beleura with five intimate programs across the year. Masterclass hosts include pianists Kirill Gerstein and Lucas Debargue, the Lutosławski Quartet and trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov.

The ANAM Set, its Australian composer commissioning project, will see its premieres in final-year student recitals across the year. There’s also an end-of-year Festival planned, with details and dates to be announced in coming months.

More about ANAM’s 2026 events can be found here.