The Rite of Spring may famously have caused a riot when it premiered at Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in Paris in 1913, but it soon became part of the repertoire. More than a hundred years – and countless performances and recordings – later, it can still be an exciting work, particularly in the masterful hands of someone like Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen, who made his Sydney Symphony Orchestra debut in this concert, launching the orchestra’s new Symphony Hour series with a thrilling performance of Stravinsky’s colourful score.

Pietari Inkinen. Photo © Yamaguchi Atsushi

With the SSO making a temporary home in the Sydney Town Hall while the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall is remodelled, the Symphony Hour series is a new initiative of shorter, earlier concerts designed to lure in city workers who might be tempted, before facing their evening commute, to knock back some craft beer and Stravinsky. Not an unappealing prospect. The program will be bulked up further with Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela when the SSO goes to the Sydney Coliseum Theatre.

Inkinen opened proceedings in grand style with the Prelude to Act I of Wagner’s 1868 opera...