Queensland Symphony Orchestra will mark its 80th anniversary in 2027 with a season spanning nearly five centuries of music, including a complete Beethoven symphony cycle, eight new Australian commissions and the final season of Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici.

The 2027 program will also feature collaborations with Brisbane’s Dead Puppet Society, Pasifika music with New Zealand’s Signature Choir, film music and live screenings, regional touring and a renewed focus on contemporary composers and the musicians of the orchestra itself.

Umberto Clerici. Portrait supplied

For Clerici, who will conclude his tenure as chief conductor at the end of 2027, the anniversary season also provides an opportunity to close several circles.

His first appearance with QSO as a guest conductor seven years ago featured Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6. The following season, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, he stepped in at short notice to conduct Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, helping establish a relationship that ultimately led to his appointment as Chief Conductor.

The Beethoven connection will now return in his final season, with QSO performing all nine...