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Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Season 2023

Join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and their Chief Conductor Simone Young in the renewed Concert Hall for the 2023 Season, filled with beautiful, inspiring music from the greatest composers of all time. There’s so much to discover.

Featuring Chief Conductor Simone Young

30 Jun - 1 Jul 2023 Classical Music

Simone Young & Steven Isserlis

Experience the grand emotions of Schumann and Walton with the Sydney Symphony’s Chief Conductor Simone Young and award-winning cellist Steven Isserlis.

7 - 9 Jul 2023 Classical Music

Simone Young Conducts Tchaikovsky’s Ballet Music

Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet music takes centre stage as Simone Young conducts this spellbinding concert.

16 - 18 Nov 2023 Classical Music

Simone Young conducts Das Rheingold

Wagner’s extraordinary music comes to life as the Sydney Symphony’s Chief Conductor Simone Young conducts the first instalment of the Ring Cycle in a rare concert performance.

Special events

19 - 22 Apr 2023 Classical Music

Elgar’s Cello Concerto

One of the most famous and beloved works in all classical music, Nicolas Altstaedt brings Elgar’s aching, powerful Cello Concerto to life.

31 Aug - 1 Sep 2023 Classical Music

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony

Experience this extraordinary a tour de force which combines New Orleans jazz, gospel, spirituals, African chant, symphonic modernism, ragtime, blues, folk song and Latin dances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

A German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in a pose black dress.
9 - 11 Nov 2023 Classical Music

Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Music of John Williams

The Sydney Symphony’s Chief Conductor Simone Young joins forces with starl violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in this program of music by John Williams and great Hollywood composers.

Brilliant violinists in concert

A woman with brown hairs holding a violin.
28 - 29 Apr 2023 Classical Music

Arabella Steinbacher performs Lentz

Remarkable violinist Arabella Steinbacher gives the world premiere of Georges Lentz’s transcendent new Violin Concerto.

12 - 15 Jul 2023 Classical Music

Ray Chen performs Tchaikovsky

Australia’s own star violinist Ray Chen performs Tchaikovsky’s beautiful, poignant Violin Concerto.

6 - 9 Sep 2023 Classical Music

Nicola Benedetti performs Marsalis

Grammy Award-winning violinist Nicole Benedetti performs a new concerto by Wynton Marsalis, the genius of performer and composer.

World-class pianists

17 - 20 May 2023 Classical Music

Stephen Hough performs Rachmaninov 1

The great pianist Stephen Hough performs Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto, a work that signalled the composer’s emergence as a pure and unapologetic Romantic.

11 - 13 May 2023 Classical Music

Stephen Hough performs Rachmaninov 2

Rachmaninov’s beloved Piano Concerto No.2 is considered one of the greatest of all time. Acclaimed British pianist Stephen Hough shows us why.

1 - 4 Nov 2023 Classical Music

Alexander Gavrylyuk Performs Tchaikovsky

Sensational pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk astounds with his exquisite interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto.

Find more Sydney Symphony Orchestra events at the Opera House 

Welcome to 2023 from 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

A blonde woman in a black dress.