The annual Sidney Myer free concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra return. Admission is free and gates open at 4.30pm, entry is on a first in, best dressed basis. You may bring your own picnic and drinks but White Hat strongly advises you read the Terms & Conditions of Entry before deciding what to bring (e.g. professional cameras and selfie sticks are not permitted).

Gershwin and Friends features Olivia Chindamo (vocalist), Daniel Le (piano) and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Benjamin Northey (conductor).

• Gershwin Cuban Overture
• Chindamo Fantaskatto
• Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue
• Gershwin An American in Paris

Our rating - 5 Hats

 The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir with the  Australian Chamber Orchestra (Richard Tognetti director) perform:

• Arvo Pärt Da pacem Domine
• J. S. Bach Komm, Jesu, komm
• Arvo Pärt Summa
• J. S. Bach Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
• Arvo Pärt Toccata from Collage on B-A-C-H
• J. S. Bach Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden
• J. S. Bach Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf
• Galina Grigorjeva In Paradisum
• Sculthorpe Djilile
• Arvo Pärt Berliner Messe

White Hat strongly recommends that anyone interested in choral music (or classical music in general) should go out of their way to hear this excellent programme. The world-renowned Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir together with the  Australian Chamber Orchestra alternate the mystical minimalism of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt with the intricate and muscular polyphony of Bach's motets. Combing these two world's is Pärt's Toccata for strings from his Collage on B-A-C-H. The programme is rounded up with an offering form contemporary Estonian composer Galina Grigorjeva and Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe's Djilile, inspired by Indigenous song.

Our rating - 5 Hats

The annual Sidney Myer free concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra return. Admission is free and gates open at 4.30pm, entry is on a first in, best dressed basis. You may bring your own picnic and drinks but White Hat strongly advises you read the Terms & Conditions of Entry before deciding what to bring (e.g. professional cameras and selfie sticks are not permitted).

This concert will be preceded by a performance at 6pm by the wonderful Melbourne Youth Orchestras, and White Hat strongly recommends you arrive in time to hear Melbourne's young players performing at the highest standard.

The main concert entitled 'Saturday Night Symphony' (and which, strangely, contains no symphony) features Leon Fei (violin) and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Tianyi Lu (conductor).

•  Saint-Saëns Samson and Delilah (The is the only information offered by the official publicity. Presumably it is not the whole opera, so White Hat guesses it may be the Bacchanale from Act 2)
• Fauré Pelléas et Mélisande Suite
• He/Chen Violin Concerto
• Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter
• Grandage Deep: A Silent Poem for Sir Douglas Mawson (Sir Douglas Mawson is one of White Hat's 200 Significant Australians)
• Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

Our rating - 5 Hats

It’s a Saturday evening in summer. You’re sitting in a park with family and friends, and a fabulous picnic dinner. The picture is complete when the glorious live music from Opera Australia begins.

Hear our brightest stars, under the stars, sing opera's most famous arias with the magnificent backing of Orchestra Victoria.

Dress up — or not — it's your night to enjoy the power of the human voice in the kind of communal, cultural celebration Melbourne loves best.

One of the world’s greatest Wagnerian maestros, Anthony Negus, returns to Melbourne Opera to conduct Wagner’s dramatic masterpiece The Flying Dutchman.

The international cast features Darren Jeffery as The Dutchman, Lee Abrahamsen, Rosario La Spina, Roxane Hislop and Steven Gallop in this new production by Suzanne Chaundy. The performance features the 70 strong Melbourne Opera Chorus and specially augmented Melbourne Opera Orchestra.
 
Sung in German with English subtitles.

The annual Sidney Myer free concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra return. Admission is free and gates open at 4.30pm, entry is on a first in, best dressed basis. You may bring your own picnic and drinks but White Hat strongly advises you read the Terms & Conditions of Entry before deciding what to bring (e.g. professional cameras and selfie sticks are not permitted).

A Symphonic Celebration features Veriko Tchumburidze (violin), Calvin Bowman (organ) and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Benjamin Northey (conductor).

White Hat would add the caveat that nothing replaces experiencing the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony in a large resonant concert hall or cathedral with a grand pipe organ. However as you lay on your back and look at the stars you  can add the reverberation in your own musical imagination. 

• Holdsworth A Hero’s Journey – 2019 Cybec Young Composer in Residence
• Dvořák Carnival Overture
• Bruch Scottish Fantasy
• Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
• Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 ‘Organ’

Our rating - 4 Hats

The Australian Chamber Orchestra with Lorenza Borrani (director & violin) perform:

• Prokofiev (arr. Lorenza Borrani) Violin Sonata No.1 in F minor
• Dobrinka Tabakova Such Different Paths (Australian Premiere)
• Beethoven (arr. strings) String Quartet in F major, Op.135

Over the years, White Hat has found that the Australian Chamber Orchestra has consistently brought us some of the most thoughtfully constructed and thought-provoking concerts on the Australian scene. This concert is no exception.

Beethoven's late string quartets strain to break the limitations of their limited forces and gain a useful new perspective when occasionally heard in arrangement for string orchestra. Similarly Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No.1 provides different insights when the piano is replaced by string orchestra. As an interlude between these powerful works, Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova’s Such Different Paths offers a radiant interlude evoking life’s journey.

Fiery and charismatic Italian violinist Lorenza Borrani, who delighted audiences on her last tour here in 2016, returns to lead this program of emotionally rich music.