Simone Young conducts Gurrelieder

Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder is a musical tapestry of monumental scale, requiring an orchestra of 125 musicians and a chorus of more than 200. With musical forces of this size, a live performance is likely to be a once in a lifetime experience. 

Performed in Sydney for the first time to celebrate Schoenberg’s 150th birthday, this huge work is the composer at his most romantic, a vast sound world for a beautifully crafted tale of love and loss. As the story unfolds, Gurrelieder’s captivating, hypnotic melodies and vast choral music emerge in waves building to one of the most beautifully realised sunrises in all music.  

On a Sydney Opera House Concert Hall stage that will almost double in size, the Sydney Symphony will be joined by musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music, an all-star cast including celebrated tenor Simon O’Neill and the extraordinary German soprano Ricarda Merbeth making her long-awaited return to Sydney.