If the audience really wanted to get in the mood for Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s first concert for 2025, they could start a riot. We haven’t seen any riots in the Concert Hall at QPAC thus far.

The thing is that the QSO’s first concert next year – its opening gala – is Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Stravinsky’s avant-garde score was first played to accompany a performance by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Theatre du Champs-Élysées in Paris in May 1913.

And yes, rather famously, it caused a riot. Many people in the audience were so outraged by Stravinsky’s music and Nijinsky’s equally revolutionary choreography that they thought it seemed like the work of a madmen.

Full marks to QSO chief conductor Umberto Clerici for choosing such an intellectually rigorous and historically and artistically interesting work to kick off the year. As for rioting, well, QSO’s demographic is generally not too rowdy so maybe that won’t happen. Riot on the inside, if you like.

The Opening Gala: Rite of Spring, February 20-22, will be a bit of a circus, anyway, because the orchestra is collaborating with Circa. The concert will feature Circa’s gravity-defying performance artists alongside QSO’s 2025 artist-in-residence, violinist Kristian Winther, before moving on to traverse a diversity of sublime musical stylings from Giuseppe Verdi and Johann Strauss II to Hans Zimmer and John Williams.

I’m not surprised by the Circa collaboration on The Rite of Spring. This is the sort of intellectual fare the Brisbane-based contemporary circus company thrives on. Artistic director Yaron Lifschitz is constantly mining literature, mythology and history in his work, so this one makes perfect sense. It will be interesting to see the logistics of having acrobats and an orchestra on the stage at the same time.

The QSO’s genre-crossing 2025 program spans Shakespeare, circus, cinema, spirituality and stunning symphonies. The music will be elevated through collaborations such as the one with Circa, influential thespian John Bell, contemporary Australian composer Nigel Westlake, singer Lior and Westminster Abbey organist James O’Donnell.

Maestro Clerici says 2025’s theme of “spirituality and the world beyond” reflected the orchestra’s continued exploration and extension of its artistic reach.

Clerici says that while some concerts connect to religious spirituality – such as Lior and Westlake’s dazzling symphonic song cycle Compassion (August 9) and Verdi’s Requiem (October 3-4) – most connected to broader spiritual themes. These include life in Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique in May, death in Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 in November, fate in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in June, philosophy in Also Sprach Zarathustra in July and the rituals and sacrifices of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at the beginning of the year.

“This program explores beauty, transcendence and inspiration but also brutality and primal instincts,” Clerici says. “The Rite of Spring is probably the most revolutionary work of the 20th century and it is conceived as a ballet about pagan rites, sage elders and the propitiatory sacrifice of a young maiden.

“It is one of the most physically engaging ballets, and we’ve partnered with a leader in contemporary circus, Circa, to bring this concert to life. This juxtaposition of arts will make the music more vivid, dynamic and visually stunning.

“I am constantly looking to mix different art forms because we live in a time that is more visual than aural. Acrobats, dancers, actors, filmmakers and light designers are welcome to collaborate and expand our horizons. The music must be enhanced but not disturbed and audiences should feel immersed and moved but not distracted, so I try to do projects with integrity and intellectual depth in mind.”

The renowned actor, director and founder of The Bell Shakespeare Company, John Bell, will narrate a concert inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest in May.

QSO will also welcome international soloists and special guests, including Canadian superstar violinist James Ehnes, rising Swedish star Daniel Lozakovich and renowned pianists Sir Stephen Hough, Alexander Gavrylyuk and Javier Perianes.

QPAC’s magnificent Klais Grand Organ and its impressive array of 6500 pipes will fill the Concert Hall when former Westminster Abbey organist James O’Donnell headlines The Royal Organist in July.

QSO will also shine the spotlight on Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, credited as “The Waltz King”, in The Strauss Gala in May, marking 200 years since his birth.

The orchestra will also pay homage to a modern maestro in Art of the Score: The Music of Hans Zimmer, also in May, presenting a catalogue of the composer’s most memorable pieces from Pirates of the Caribbean and Gladiator to Driving Miss Daisy and The Lion King.

The symphonies of the silver screen are brought to life by QSO in special presentations of James Bond: Skyfall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Brief Encounter, Home Alone and the sixth annual movie mix-tape, with a red-carpet theme – Cinematic: The Oscars.

QSO’s 2025 subscription packages are on sale now. Tickets to individual concerts will be on sale from November 11.

qso.com.au

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