To join music from centuries ago to compositions of today shows how that bond in music holds us keen. No matter what period some music comes from, it can sound fresh and innovative. The programming for this concert proved how good music can work together, regardless.

Paul Kildea. Photograph © Penny Bradfield

Beginning with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro Overture, award-winning conductor, author and Canberra native Paul Kildea energetically led the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) through this romp of an overture to this ‘disguise and expose’ comic opera. Hearing this lively overture makes you want to experience the whole opera.

This was the first time Kildea had conducted the CSO – the very first orchestra he ever heard play live, which he said changed his life and led him into conducting.

Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto madrigal for two guitars and orchestra played by Slava and Leonard Grigoryan is a work rarely performed, but it shouldn’t be. Full of lively Spanish dance rhythms this ten-part piece begins with a model of the Toccata from the opening of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. The immediate strumming on guitars and pizzicato strings sets up the rhythm. It then burst into a fanfare...