The Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has announced its 2026 season. Subtitled Life Force: In the Stream of Life, this season celebrates notions of continuity and “interconnectedness between nature and humanity”.

Now in her fifth year at the helm of the orchestra, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Jessica Cottis says she was deeply moved by Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Stream of Life, whose imagery of flowing energy and interconnection shaped the season’s narrative arc.

Jessica Cottis. Photo © Kaupo Kikkas

“From one tiny blade of grass to the vast oceans: these – and all in between – are places of connection, transformation and flow,” said Cottis.

Young superstar cellist (and 2024 YCAT Artist) James Morley makes his CSO debut at its head in Enigma Variations (18–19 Mar), and Tamara-Anna Cislowska joins for Sea and Stars (20–21 May) in a program that features Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Debussy’s La Mer and Deborah Cheetham Fraillon’s Dutala – Star Filled Sky.

Psycho (16–17 September) screens Hitchcock’s thriller as the CSO perform the score live next to the premiere of a new Leah Curtis work.

James Morley. Photo © Cassandra Hannagan

The season’s summit is Verdi’s Requiem (4–5 November), a dramatic mass incorporating soloists Helena Dix, Deborah Humble, Paul O’Neill and Warwick Fyfe, chorus and orchestral full force, paired with Liza Lim’s 2020 CSO commission, Dianna. 

The CSO’s 2026 Chamber Series opens with Accordion Dances (15 February) featuring returning Australian accordionist James Crabb, his own arrangements and works by Bach, Piazzolla.

Schubert’s Death and the Maiden is paired with a rare quartet from Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen on 19 April, Parisian works from Tomasi, Poulenc and more get a spin in French Accents (6 September) and the series concludes with Beethoven’s almighty Archduke Trio on 11 October.

Claire Edwardes. Photo courtesy Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra

The CSO’s Australian Series celebrates the home-grown sounds of Australian composers and performers. Percussionist Claire Edwards and vocalist Sunny Kim feature in Spark, Bloom! with works by Katy Abbott, Bree van Reyk, Holly Harrison and Ella Macens, alongside a brand new work for voice and percussion quartet from Kim and Hilary Kleinig. Then, Lior and Ade Vincent reflect on the growing pervasiveness of AI and its artistic and ethical impacts in To Be Human next to works by Michael Sollis and Elizabeth Sheppard.

In a special event across 31 July – 1 August, the CSO hosts a cinematic blockbuster, performing the music of celebrated film composer Hans Zimmer in concert.

More about the Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s 2026 season can be found here.