A man plays a double bass instrument with a screen in the background showcasing a close up shot of a pink flower.

Strauss’ Four Last Songs

  • Classical Music
  • Australian Chamber Orchestra
  • Concert Hall
  • Run time: 120 minutes Subject to change
  • Seating map

Soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha brings her magnificent voice to Strauss’ exploration of what it means to be human

The Australian Chamber Orchestra is thrilled to present the Australian debut of Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha. Winner of the Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and the prestigious Salzburg Festival’s Herbert von Karajan prize, Rangwanasha is one of the most exciting sopranos singing today. Combining sumptuous tone and tenderness with sheer vocal power, she will perform with an expanded Australian Chamber Orchestra featuring winds, piano and percussion, directed by Richard Tognetti.

Strauss’ Four Last Songs is a wistful farewell, an intoxicating combination of beauty and darkness that comes together in transcendent lyricism. He wrote them at 84, looking back on the life that was, and forward to eternal rest. Dedicated with love to his wife of six decades, Strauss meditates on our inevitable mortality without ever giving in to despair, a profoundly thankful last musical gift. 

The concert opens with Arvo Pärt’s haunting Cantus, written in memory of Benjamin Britten. Britten’s Second String Quartet, his beautiful ode to his musical hero Henry Purcell, follows, before the premiere of a new commission from award-winning Australian composer Jack Symonds, whose captivating music marries innovation and imagination. 

This final concert in the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s 2027 Season is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit and the power of reinvention and renewal. This is music that reminds us of why we gather in concert halls, to bear witness and to revel in collective wonder.

Presented by the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Event details

[Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha] is the real deal: a singer with a voice of sumptuous, indecent beauty and serious musicality.

The Guardian

Program

Arvo Pärt Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten

Jack Symonds New Work* (World Premiere)

Benjamin Britten (arr. strings) String Quartet No.2 in C major, Op.36

Witold Lutosławski (arr. Richard Tognetti) Partita

Richard Strauss (arr. James Ledger) Four Last Songs, Op. posth.

Strauss’ Four Last Songs is supported by Marion Pender in loving memory of John Gerrit Pender.

*Commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Artists

Director & Violin Richard Tognetti 

Soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha 

Double Bass Maxime Bibeau 

Australian Chamber Orchestra

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Plan your visit

Address

Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Getting to the venue

The Opera House is a 7-10 minute walk from Circular Quay, and is easily accessible by car, train, ferry, lightrail, bus, bike and on foot.

Location and access

Concert Hall

The Concert Hall is located beneath the largest of Sydney Opera House’s roof sails, filling the upper levels of the west side of the building. Best accessed through the covered concourse. 

All Sydney Opera House foyers are accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators).

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