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A group from Sydney symphony orchestra holding their instruments.

Sydney Symphony Orchestra

An orchestra of world standing

Founded in 1932 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra of world standing and one of the leading orchestras in the Asia-Pacific region. The Sydney Symphony performs approximately 150 concerts each year to an annual audience of more than 350,000. The Orchestra not only performs core symphonic repertoire but engages in collaborations with other art forms and commissions new works by Australian and international composers to ensure the vibrancy of orchestral music for generations to come.

2023 Season

This is an orchestra worthy of sharing the international stage with America and Europe’s finest.

Limelight Magazine
A blonde woman in a black dress.

Sydney Symphony Chief Conductor Simone Young

It is wonderful to reflect on the 2023 Season now that we have returned to the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall and discovered through recent performances how the renewed space has created a new experience for all of us.

The reopening of the Concert Hall was celebrated with a series of sensational concerts which gave audiences around Australia the opportunity to experience the Sydney Symphony at its very best.

2023 will continue to inspire that wonder, excitement and sense of adventure with an extraordinary season of concerts featuring profound and beautiful music.

We will again welcome artists from around the world to share their extraordinary musical gifts. I’m especially proud that we will invite Australian artists to return and participate in many of the year’s landmark events so that the Sydney Symphony’s performances are a place to which people return while reaffirming the ideals of music and its importance in the contemporary world.

We’re delighted to welcome world-renowned artists, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Nicola Benedetti, Ray Chen, Stephen Hough, Khatia Buniatishvili and Siobhan Stagg. Among our guests are also many wonderful conducting colleagues, including Donald Runnicles, John Wilson, Masaaki Suzuki and Stephen Layton.

As promised, Spanish pianist Javier Perianes returns to continue our exploration of Beethoven’s piano concertos, bringing his extraordinary playing to these rich and evocative works.

I am particularly excited that our opera in concert will be Das Rheingold, commencing our multi-year presentation of the Ring Cycle. I’m delighted to finally perform this work in Sydney featuring an extraordinary cast of Australian and international singers, including Wolfgang Koch and Falk Struckmann.

It will now be possible to hear Wagner’s epic creation as it should be heard – as an immense musical experience performed with the finest singers and an orchestra of the highest calibre. I hope you will join us for a season of the most exciting and rewarding performances.

Simone Young AM
Chief Conductor