Carl Vine announces a “fantastic year of debuts” for the 2017 season along with the return of some audience favourites.

The first Australian tour by Britain’s intrepid Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a contemporary blitz by Chicago’s four-time Grammy-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird and the return of the ever-popular Takács Quartet: these are some of the highlights of Musica Viva’s 2017 International Concert Season. The Musica Viva Festival also returns in April, with legendary violinist Pinchas Zukerman and the Zukerman Trio headlining.

Topping the bill in the International Concert Season is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), which tours in November 2017. Formed in 1986 as a democratic, self-governing group of period instrument specialists, the OAE breaks all the classical rules by not having a conductor in charge.  Described as a kind of “supersized chamber ensemble” the OAE has flourished from small beginnings. Three decades on, it is the resident orchestra at London’s Southbank Centre and is still making waves.

^{Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Photo courtesy of Musica Viva}

“They have been to Australia once before...