Featuring: Andrew Young, Emma Gregan, Benjamin Messenger, and Elena Katahanas (French Horns) 
Conducted by Luke Severn 

The 2026 season begins with a celebration of power, poise, and sonic identity. 

FANFARE opens with the world premiere of the BSO Fanfare by horn player and composer Emma Gregan — a bold new musical signature for the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra. Commissioned to mark the orchestra’s next artistic chapter, this vibrant work for brass and percussion captures the BSO’s energy and forward momentum. It will now open every concert in 2026, becoming a sonic emblem for the ensemble and its audience. 

At the heart of the program is one of the 19th century’s great showpieces: Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra. Performed by four visiting soloists from across Australia, Andrew Young, Emma Gregan, Benjamin Messenger and Elena Katahanas, the work is a virtuosic tour de force. Blending Romantic warmth with electrifying fanfares and intricate interplay, it invites the audience into the soul of the French Horn: noble, playful, and thrillingly alive. 

The concert concludes with a work of spirit and symphonic mastery: Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Written at the close of World War II, this sweeping epic integrates his famous Fanfare for the Common Man into a four-movement symphony of hope, struggle, and triumph. At once intimate and monumental, it speaks to the resilience of communities and the power of music to unite across time and place. 

Together, these three works create a concert that honours the past, embraces the present, and points boldly toward the future — the perfect way to begin an historic season for the Bendigo Symphony Orchestra.