Featuring: Elyane Laussade (piano) 
Conducted by Luke Severn 

FATE is a program of fire and foreboding, of beauty and defiance, with music that dares to ask what we can control, and what we must surrender to the forces around us. 

The concert opens with Saint-Saëns’ Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah, a swirling, sensual overture of exotic colours and unrelenting energy. With its West Asian influences and cinematic flair, it sets the stage for a program steeped in drama and myth. 

Acclaimed pianist Elyane Laussade returns to the BSO stage as resident soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. This stormy, brooding work is one of Beethoven’s most personal. His only piano concerto composed in a minor key, it’s full of searching intensity. Its slow movement offers a glimpse of divine calm — a moment of stillness between battles — before the finale bursts forth in urgent fire. It is a concerto of inner tension and luminous courage, delivered here by one of Australia’s most compelling pianists. 

The performance concludes with the tempestuous and unforgettable Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky, a work that opens with the theme of fate itself — a blazing fanfare in the brass that refuses to be ignored. Over the course of four movements, Tchaikovsky takes the listener on a journey through despair, joy, tenderness, and triumph. It is an emotional autobiography in music, delivered with intensity, vulnerability, and an explosive finale that practically dares the audience not to leap to their feet. 

This concert is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a musical confrontation with destiny that is fierce, honest, and ultimately redemptive.