In its eight-year performing absence from Canberra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra settled on the Snow Concert Hall (opened in 2022) as its return performance venue, rather than Llewellyn Hall at the ANU School of Music.

Snow feels more intimate, and yet it is only slightly smaller in capacity. The technologically sophisticated facility was tuned to a relatively crisp acoustic which suited the SSO’s precision playing perfectly.

Benjamin Northey conducts musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo supplied

Indeed in his warm and enthusiastic introduction, SSO conductor-in-residence Benjamin Northey mentioned a recent conversation with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in which Marsalis (who performed at Snow with the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra in August 2023) had described Snow as one of the world’s best new state-of-the-art performance spaces.

The capacity Canberra audience received the orchestra sincerely at the opening, and rapturously by the end of a surprisingly adventurous program.

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