MSO's Free Concert Series to Take Place At The Sidney Myer Music Bowl

For the first time in 13 years, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will return to its tradition of presenting four symphonic concerts at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

The hugely popular annual free concerts will once again fill the city's favourite outdoor venue with the majesty and magnificence of the MSO. The stellar season features a constellation of brilliant Australian composers, conductors and inspirational voices from 10–14 February, in a week-long festival of music under the stars, hosted by your favourite ABC Classic radio presenters.

The 2026 Sidney Myer Free Concerts includes a Symphonic Celebration of audience favourites and GRAMMY-Award winner Christian Reif conducting the Australian Youth Orchestra, Warrnambool's Find Your Voice Collective's 150-voice choir spanning the spectrum of humanity and an all-Australian program of performers and composers celebrating 50 Years of ABC Classic radio. 

Kicking off the free concert series on Tuesday 10 February, Symphonic Celebration, conducted by Leonard Weiss, features a vibrant program of fan favourites and the world premiere of a new fanfare from the MSO's 2026 Young Composer in Residence, Andrew Aronowicz.

The program also features the return of Holly Harrison's 2021 commission Hellbent, with Principal Trumpet Owen Morris as soloist, and — in an historic nod to the Orchestra's 120-year anniversary, being celebrated throughout 2026 — Grieg's lyrical Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, performed at the MSO's very first concert in 1906. The celebration reaches its thrilling finale with Beethoven's unforgettable Symphony No. 5, featuring the most famous ida-da-da-dummm ever written.

The second concert on Wednesday 11 February sees the MSO presenting the talented musicians of the Australian Youth Orchestra led by GRAMMY-Award winning conductor Christian Reif. 

Together they blend the fantasy of late Romanticism with the restless and expansive soundscapes of digital gaming worlds. Works include Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1945), paired with Nobuo UEMATSU Final Fantasy IX Suite, British composer Anna Clyne's evocative This Midnight Hour, and Swede Daniel Nelson's 2016 composition Steampunk Blizzard.  

On Friday 13 February, the MSO returns, conducted by Benjamin Northey, and paired with the unbridled joy of Australia's Got Talent audience favourite, the Warrnambool-based Find Your Voice Collective (FYVC). 

This not-to-be-missed concert marks the culmination of a year-long collaboration that brings together MSO musicians, artists with lived experience of disability, renowned composers, and a 150-voice accessible choir and band. The insightful and uplifting program celebrates the full spectrum of humanity with original contemporary works written by d/Deaf & Disabled artists including GK (Grace Kenny), Jacob Paton-Lee and Julian Paterson, arranged by Nat Bartsch, Georgia Scott, Kym Dillon and Stefan Cassomenos.

Founded by a grassroots community movement in 2018, Find Your Voice Collective brings together artists, songs and stories from more than a dozen regional Southwest Victorian communities in one, collective voice, welcoming all ages, genders, abilities, ethnicities, sexual preferences, religions and backgrounds.

The concert will premiere a new musical Acknowledgment of Country (AOC) from the MSO's Cybec First Nations Composer in Residence James Henry, commissioned by the MSO as part of its ongoing AOC Project, launched in 2019.  

The final evening of the Sidney Myer Free Concerts on Valentine's Day celebrates Australia's love affair with ABC Classic radio. 50 Years of ABC Classic, proudly features a thrilling program of all-Australian works.

Principal Guest Conductor Benjamin Northey leads the MSO performing works from modern Australian composers Elena Kats-Chernin, Nigel Westlake, Ross Edwards, Peter Sculthorpe, James Henry, and the world premiere of a new work from one of Australia's most celebrated young composers, Ella Macens. Guest artists Slava Grigoryan (guitar), Aura Go (piano), Natalie Chee (violin), James Tawadros (percussion) and his brother Joseph Tawadros (oud) join the all-Australian line-up.