Musica Viva Australia Announces 2026 Season

Musica Viva Australia is delighted to unveil its 2026 concert program, a vivid tapestry featuring a sweeping line-up of great chamber works, modern masterpieces, and trailblazing new commissions.

In 2026, audiences can expect seven national tours, six premieres and forty-nine concerts across six states and territories, performed by local and international artists including London-based powerhouse the Doric String Quartet, much-loved Australian clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff, superstar British pianist Paul Lewis, French-American lutenist Thomas Dunford, and the extraordinary Latvian Radio Choir with ARIA award-winning recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey.

The season opens in February with A Winter’s Journey: a unique presentation of Schubert’s emotionally charged song cycle Winterreise. Featuring internationally acclaimed British tenor Allan Clayton, Australian pianist Kate Golla, and animated artworks from the late Australian artist Fred Williams, A Winter’s Journey is an unforgettable exploration of music, storytelling and visual art. The six-city national tour follows critically acclaimed performances in Australia and London’s Barbican Centre.

In May, a new piano trio takes flight in Beethoven’s Ghost. Three eclectic Australian artists — pianist, storyteller and FutureMaker Auro Go, Finnish Australian cellist Timo-Veikko Valve and violin virtuoso Kristian Winter — join forces to present Beethoven’s illustrious ‘Ghost’ Piano Trio in D. The concert is bookended by haunting works from Ravel and Boulanger, and a new commission by Australian composer Melody Eötvös.

Next, the award-winning, London-based Doric String Quartet meets much-loved Australian clarinettist, FutureMaker Lloyd Van’t Hoff for some musical alchemy in June. They perform “one of the best chamber music compositions of our time” (The Guardian), Thomas Adès' breathtakingly beautiful Alchymia for clarinet quintet, and Beethoven’s daring ‘Razumovsky’ Quartet No.1.

In July, feisty American-Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz presents her first Australian recital tour with Grammy-nominated pianist John Novacek. Josefowicz and Novacek, musical partners since the age of eight, explore music for violin and piano by Debussy and Stravinsky. Also featured is the Australian premiere of British composer Charlotte Bray’s new work Mriya — commissioned by Musica Viva Australia in collaboration with the Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Centre.

August sees multi-award-winning cellist Nicolas Altstaedt and French-American lutenist Thomas Dunford put the rockstar in Baroque. In his Australian debut, Dunford, dubbed the ‘Eric Clapton of the lute’ (BBC Music Magazine), performs works by Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray, alongside Bach’s Cello Suites No's 1 and 5.

Musica Viva Australia welcomes back superstar British pianist, the inimitable Paul Lewis CBE to the stage in October. The six-city recital tour sees one of the world’s leading exponents of Beethoven and Schubert turn his attention to the endless wonders of Mozart’s piano sonatas.

Rounding out the 2026 season in October is the extraordinary Latvian Radio Choir, with Australian recorder queen and ARIA award-winner Genevieve Lacey. One of Europe’s most in-demand chamber choirs, the Latvian Radio Choir is a unique sound laboratory, whose repertoire spans more than half a millennium from the Renaissance to modern day. Together with Lacey, the choir performs soaring works by Caroline Shaw, Mendelssohn and Pēteris Vasks plus new commissions from Ēriks Ešenvalds, and creative collaborators Hollis Taylor and Jon Rose.

Musica Viva Australia Artistic Director, Paul Kildea said “I’m delighted to share a 2026 concert season full of verve, beauty and optimism. Chamber music has such a special ability to uplift, to provoke meaning and to provide a profound sense of connection, all things which I feel are ever more important."

“I’m especially proud to offer performances that are at once familiar and unexpected -- such as the debut of lutenist Thomas Dunford with Nicolas Altstaedt, which will be extraordinary -- and tours which combine international and homegrown artists -- such as Doric String Quartet with magnificent clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff – and internationally-acclaimed creations such as A Winter's Journey, which bring a uniquely Australian point of view to much-loved masterpieces”.

Throughout the year, Musica Viva Australia’s Sydney Morning Masters daytime concert series continues at The Concourse, Chatswood, with performances from pianist Konstantin Shamray, FutureMakers the Partridge String Quartet, Trio Histoire, plus flautist Joshua Batty and pianist Somi Kim. Historically informed performance specialists Anna Fraser and Neal Peres Da Costa will take audiences into the world of Schubert’s last song cycle and uncover the songs of Mozart scholar Johann Anton André. The series also features premieres of new works from Australian composer Aristos Mellos and the UK’s Sir Stephen Hough.

Subscriptions are available on Musica Viva Australia’s website from Tuesday 26 August on musicaviva.com.au/2026.