Past Events

To hear Bach’s keyboard concertos is to witness the birth of a genre. Alternating bustling brio and the most heartfelt lyricism, Bach creates music that speaks across the centuries. Recently praised for his “simply gorgeous” playing and “crystalline phrasing” by the Washington Post, pianist David Fung is an ideal match for the immaculate poise and effortless dexterity these wonderful concertos require. Béla Bartók’s Divertimento is one of the iconic works for chamber orchestra—an exhilarating showpiece, inflected with folk melodies and…

Two modern American classics to open: John Adams’ jubilant Hallelujah Junction, inspired by the name of a truck stop near the California-Nevada border, and a seminal work of minimalism, Steve Reich’s Six Pianos. On the other hand, the epic riff on Chopin’s Prelude by young, New Mexico-born composer Ben Wallace might be called ‘So Chopin walked into a bar, ordered a whiskey and headed straight for the pinball machine.’ One has to hear it to believe it. Likewise the epic…

After two years of successful touring, Melbourne is Yiruma's first stop back in Australia with his new album Frame and classic original pieces! With strong love and passion, Yiruma is bringing the breathtaking performance full of spirits of sharing and bliss back to Australia. Ever since the first album, Yiruma's warm and beautiful classical melody resonates with music lovers all around the world.  Yiruma Live in Australia Frame will also appear in Brisbane and Sydney in May 2019! Enjoy the most romantic music…

From the moment he wrote it, Verdi knew he had a hit on his hands. The story had everything: royalty, loyalty, deformity, devotion, lust and revenge. Love and vengeance meet in the darkness and the opera draws to its dramatic, devastating conclusion. The morning after Rigoletto’s triumphant premiere, the show's sensational melody rang out in the streets: a hit for ever after. Opera Australia is bringing Elijah Moshinsky’s classic production of Verdi’s Rigoletto back to the Melbourne stage in full…

2019 Friends of Music Series (FOMS) is thrilled to announce pianist Josh Hooke as our next performer! PROGRAMME Mozart - Fantasia in D minor, K 397 Beethoven - Sonata in D Major, Op 28 Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition Originally from country Victoria, Joshua completed his secondary schooling at Wonthaggi Secondary College. Currently. Joshua is completing a PhD in MusicPerformance at the University of Melbourne on scholarship, under the guidance of Professor Ian Holtham, while also undertaking periods of…

Sir David McVicar’s production of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte has its highly anticipated Melbourne premiere this autumn season. Conducting the performance will be Canadian Maestra Keri-Lynn Wilson, making her Australian debut. Mozart’s opera about testing fidelity is an intriguing story set to music of impossible beauty. Two men disguise themselves as Albanians and attempt to seduce each other’s lover in an elaborate ruse to win a bet, at the urging of the cynical old philosopher Don Alfonso.

The Melbourne Musicians, directed by Frank U.Pam, present acclaimed pianist Elyane Laussade in the second of three concerts as part of her project to play all of Mozart's piano concertos. She will play Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K.459. It is the most uniformly cheerful of all Mozart's concertos and is notable for the particularly luminous writing for the winds. The program includes the Premiere of Haydn's 12 German Dances, a rare performance of Dittersdorf's Symphony in F…