There is little doubt in Alexander Briger’s mind where he wants to take his audience for this tour marking the 15th anniversary of his Australian World Orchestra: Russia.

And more particularly the vivid and exciting orchestral writing of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet music. He has chosen Petrushka – the 1947 version with its sparser, more transparent sound palette.

“(It) is such a great piece of music. Stravinsky just works for this orchestra. It’s in my blood. My father was Russian. His family killed Rasputin.”

That event is, by all accounts, messy and drawn out. Not so this performance, or for that matter, those of the other two works on the program – Dmitri Shostakovich’s visceral Symphony No. 10 and an AWO-commissioned song cycle, Songs for the Stranger, by Australian composer and festival organiser Jonathan Mills, taken from his opera Eucalyptus and featuring tenor Michael Petruccelli.

Alexander Briger and the Australian World Orchestra. Photo supplied

From the scintillating zip of the brass and woodwinds and buoyant strings of The Shrovetide Fair to the hair-raising climax of the Shostakovich, the night is a celebration of the...