The ACO perform two iconic symphonies for the first time, welcome an American soprano and debut a new instrument.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra is set to perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 6 in their latest concert program. It will be the first time the orchestra has performed either work.

With performance dates across the country, American soprano Kiera Duffy will join the orchestra onstage in her Australian debut for the joyous finale of Mahler’s ‘Heavenly’ Symphony. Duffy last year performed the work with Florida’s New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas to wide-reaching acclaim.

“For me, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 represents the universe – the collision of improbable forces with small and massive ideas coming together,” says ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti. “The work’s contrapuntal nature, different dynamics, different harmonies, and different motivic fragments is endlessly fascinating.”

Also on the concert program, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 6 offers a vivid celebration of Romanticism – rooted in the pride, nature and folklore of Finland and laced with the subtle melancholy that marked the composer’s late output.

“Sibelius is fantastic at getting one or two ideas in an almost clinical way, and developing these ideas to a formal conclusion with profound results,”...