The Canberra Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2023 program, Chroma, a season of three concert series, woven together by music with an intricate fascination with colour, visuality and the Australian landscape, tailed by the annual CSO Prom. It features five world premieres of pieces commissioned by the CSO, as well as 18 Australian works across its program.

Jessica Cottis, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Kaupo Kikkas

For its curation, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Jessica Cottis draws upon the poetic essays of Derek Jarman of the same name.

“In Chroma, Jarman shifts masterfully and mercurially from the ancient to the contemporary, drawing on the work of great colour theorists from Pliny to Wittgenstein and interweaving deeply personal reflections on the essence of life.With music spanning the Classical to the modern, our 2023 season follows a similarly kaleidoscopic path, centring on composers with a close connection and a special affinity with colour.”