Musica Viva Australia has launched its 2023 season with a program that Artistic Director Paul Kildea intends to send out a message of optimism, creativity and imagination. In a deft combination of new and familiar, young and old, returning artists like American pianist Garrick Ohlsson and Australian talents like guitarist Karin Schaupp and the Flinders Quartet rub shoulders with the likes of leading French pianist Cédric Tiberghien, the great French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and noted up-and-coming ensembles such as Germany’s Vision String Quartet. There’s also an evening exploring the ideas and music in Kildea’s acclaimed 2019 book, Chopin’s Piano.

Paul Kildea. Photo © Musica Viva Australia

Although the program feels richly cohesive, like most arts companies, MVA is still recovering from the disruption of the past two years. “The 2023 season has been affected by the pandemic in as much as projects that I had planned for the previous two seasons need homes, so that has made me think about the structure and balance of the season in...