Join the Queensland Youth Symphony (QYS) and conductor Simon Hewett for an enthralling journey through masterpieces of the 20th century.

Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem is the composer’s first major work for full orchestra. As a dedicated pacifist, he demonstrated his anti-war feelings by calling this moving symphony a requiem. The three movement titles are based on the Catholic Requiem Mass: Lacrymosa, Dies irae and Requiem Aeternam.

We welcome the outstanding young cellist and QYS Principal Player Stirling Hall as soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Composed in the aftermath of World War I, this poignant masterpiece is described by musicologist Donald Tovey as “ ... a fairy tale, full, like all Elgar’s larger works, of meditative and intimate passages; full also of humor, which, in the second movement and finale, rises nearer to the surface than Elgar usually permits.”

Shostakovich described his most popular symphony, Symphony No. 5 as “a lengthy spiritual battle, crowned by victory.” In this extraordinary work, the unsettling opening movement captures the shifting, uncertain mood of the time, and leads to an exultant finale. The work was both a critical and political salvation for the composer.