Bendigo Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 opening concert basks in the music of home. Sculthorpe’s shimmering Sun Music III welcomes this year’s season, painting the Australian landscape with scorched earth and burnt hues.  

One of the most distinctive and influential Australian composers of the 20th century, Sculthorpe played a pivotal role in developing Australia’s voice in classical music. He dared to break from the European tradition, looking instead to Australia’s Indo-Pacific neighbours to create a new and unique sound-world. Echoes of gamelan and memories of warm tropical evenings dance through this glittering work.  

Tamara-Anna Cislowska is one of Australia’s most renowned, ARIA award-winning pianists. Sculthorpe’s pianist of choice, she possesses a formidable list of accolades. She now joins BSO in a breath-taking collaboration, delivering the heart of the program with Tchaikovsky’s majestic Piano Concerto No. 1. Abounding with arresting passion and timeless beauty, Tchaikovsky’s concerto defied the ire of Rubinstein himself to become one of the best-loved works in the repertoire.  

Bendigo Symphony Orchestra round off this concert with a tremendous pillar of the repertoire, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Beethoven’s fifth: the masterwork, the monument. The poster-child for classical music. Its iconic four-note shorthand for fate is as powerful today as it was when it first exploded 200 years ago. Experience its depth of emotion, the anguish of a musician faced with encroaching deafness.  

Join the BSO for a stormy journey that returns ultimately – through Beethoven’s rapturously golden finale – to the light.