A trifecta of Australian debuts made for an evening of musical pyrotechnics when Sydney Symphony Orchestra played one of the canon’s most popular war horses, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony, alongside Max Bruch’s evergreen Violin Concerto No. 1.

It was our first chance to see 23-year-old Spanish violinist María Dueñas, who has been carving a stellar career since winning the 2021 Yehudi Menuhin Competition, and the charismatic resident organist at London’s Royal Albert Hall Anna Lapwood. Both of them gave scintillating performances under the baton of British conductor Alexander Soddy, who has become one of his generation’s most in demand leaders in concert halls and opera houses throughout the world.

María Dueñas, conductor Alexander Soddy and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Jay Patel.

To set the scene Soddy chose a rarely heard early work by Olivier Messiaen, Les Offrandes oubliées. Written when the French composer had just turned 22, it is his first piece for orchestra and is in three continuous parts representing the Cross, the Sin and the Eucharist.

Already we hear his unique use of harmonies, rhythms and colours – he was...