Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
October 12, 2018

Brett Dean’s oratorio The Last Days of Socrates was a fitting swansong for the composer’s final concert as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Artist in Residence, bringing to a close a three-year association that began in 2016. Dean’s tenure with the SSO has coincided with an era of significant success for the composer, who saw his new opera Hamlet premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2017 before its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Festival in March this year. Now with a string of awards under its belt, the opera is heading to the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Written in 2013, the Last Days of Socrates predates Hamlet‘s success, but it already has its own impressive history – it was premiered by Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic, before Simone Young conducted the Australian premiere with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (taking out the Art Music Award for Performance of the Year), while Gustavo Dudamel conducted the US premiere in Los Angeles. This performance is the first time the SSO has tackled the near hour-long oratorio.

The Last Days of Socrates sets words by Australian poet Graeme Ellis, drawn from Plato’s account...