David Robertson introduces his fifth season with Ax, Freire, Grosvenor, Mutter, Capuçon and Batiashvili among the headliners.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2018 season with a new music line up that includes Jennifer Higdon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning violin concerto played by Benjamin Beilman and a new cello concerto by Australian composer Brett Dean to be played by Alban Gerhardt. More mainstream music, on the other hand, is in the capable hands of pianists like Emanuel Ax, Nelson Freire, Benjamin Grosvenor and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter (returning to play Tchaikovsky), Renaud Capuçon and Lisa Batiashvili.

Another key element is a whole series of concerts featuring SSO principals as soloists – players such as Concertmaster Andrew Haveron, cellists Umberto Clerici and Catherine Hewgill, bassoonist Matthew Wilkie and double bassist Kees Boersma. “It’s coming on the heels of the Playlist series, where you have a chance to really get to know the individuals of the orchestra,” explains Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor David Robertson over a bite to eat between rehearsals at the Sydney Opera House. “Even when we have something like the mini Brahms festival, Umberto and Andrew...