Let 2025 sing with Southern Cross Soloists’ 16th QPAC Concert Series
As part of its Pearl 30th anniversary season, the mellifluent musicians of Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) will be making the halls of QPAC ring with the spectacular sounds of chamber music in the 16th QPAC Concert Series. From February to October, hear virtuoso soloist musicians from Queensland and beyond perform at the height of their powers in three spellbinding concerts – Celebrate! (February 23), Pearls (June 1) and Wonder (October 12). Read on to hear all the harmonious details …
The concert series kicks off with a Viennese birthday gala filled with singing, dancing and laughter – Celebrate! will be filling QPAC with champagne and chamber music on Sunday February 23. The musicians will be dolled up in their Sunday best (and invite you to do the same) for a joyous journey through classic party pieces from Beethoven’s Septet Op. 20 to Strauss II’s Emperor Waltz, plus a few new premieres to boot! Australian soprano and friend of the SXS, Alexandra Flood, returns from the Vienna Volksoper to dazzle in coloratura arias and Hollywood-based Australian composer Leah Curtis celebrates with her second collaborative work with Chris Williams – SXS Artist in Residence and Wakka Wakka Didgeridoo soloist – for didgeridoo and ensemble. In the spirit of celebration, SXS is offering a special deal – purchase a three-concert QPAC Series package subscription and receive two free tickets to bring more friends to Celebrate!
On Sunday June 1 comes Pearls, a concert dedicated to music of spirit, peace and belief. Like the pearl, these pieces hold a deep lustre and soothing shine – transcending time to speak to the heart of the listener. Rising star Nina Korbe swings by to share some of her favourite repertoire, including Bellini’s ‘Casta Diva,’ a prayer for peace, and Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ and ‘Somewhere’ from Bernstein’s West Side Story, both lullabies about belief – belief that there is a calm place for love to be free. Internationally renowned jazz pianist Joe Chindamo collaborates with Chris Williams in a new composition as well as showcasing his incredible ivory-tickling fingers in other pieces. The concert also features chants and chorales, spirited violin concertos and exuberant Mozart movements.
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Finally, the QPAC Concert series will close with Wonder on Sunday October 12. Enter into a wonderland of elves, fairies, lovers and a donkey with Felix Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mendelssohn stood on the conductor’s podium when the 16-year-old wonder-child composer-performer Clara Wieck premiered her own piano concerto, which would go on to inspire and influence the concerti of her future husband, Robert Schumann, and their friends Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. Renowned pianist Aura Go, known for her unremittingly insightful playing, joins SXS to perform Clara Schumann’s ravishing concerto, alongside the free-spirited fantasy of Robert Schumann’s fairytale miniatures. Wonder will also feature two world premieres – one from award-winning emerging Queensland composer, Ray Lin, collaborating with Chris Williams in a new composition for didgeridoo and ensemble, and a new work by SXS’s International Ambassador and composer Sean O’Boyle AM entitled ‘Maggie’s Dance’.
Make your 2025 ring with song with this spellbinding concerts series. To learn more and book your tickets, or two- and three-concert, head to the Southern Cross Soloists’ website.
This piece was written in partnership with our friends at Sotuhern Cross Soloists.