Adelaide Symphony Orchestra has revealed its 2027 season, and it’s a program that reflects the orchestra’s ambition to reach every corner of South Australia’s music-loving community. From a complete Beethoven symphony cycle marking 200 years since the composer’s death, to film scores performed live beneath the screen, the season balances the great symphonic repertoire with events designed to draw new audiences through the concert hall doors.
ASO Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth, who will lead much of the season, frames the program around a simple but powerful idea: music only comes alive when people are there to hear it.
“Just like love, or hate, or fear, music is the result of the feelings people have when engaged by it,” he says. “You are as much part of the music as the notes themselves. It is the listeners that make music human.”
A Beethoven cycle for the bicentenary
The season’s defining event will be a complete cycle of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, conducted by Wigglesworth. Two centuries after the composer’s death, the cycle offers audiences a chance to experience one of music’s most profound bodies of work in sequence.
“More than any other composer, Beethoven reminds us of what it means to be human,” Wigglesworth says. “The music expresses empathy and compassion, heroism and hedonistic joy, triumph and adversity, and, above all, the need for us to reach out to one another and celebrate a sense of community that allows us to be more than the sum of our parts.”
World premieres and international soloists
The flagship Symphony Series expands to nine programs at Adelaide Town Hall, featuring an international roster of soloists including pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Alexander Gavrylyuk, violist Lawrence Power, violinist Anthony Marwood, and percussionist Beatrice Colombis. ASO musicians will also step into the spotlight as featured soloists.
Guest conductors joining Wigglesworth include Ludovic Morlot, Anna Sulkowska-Migoń, Andrew Manze and Katharina Wincor.
New music features prominently. Australian composers Paul Dean, Jack Symonds, Belinda Gehlert and Elena Kats-Chernin have works in the program, and audiences will hear the Australian premiere of Anna Clyne’s Viola Concerto, performed by Lawrence Power. In another Australian premiere, actor Walter van Dyk will narrate a reimagined performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, created and led by Wigglesworth.
Film scores, gaming music and Ben Folds
The season opens in February with Ben Folds performing alongside the orchestra, followed in May by A Night in Vienna, a celebration of the Austrian capital’s orchestral tradition.
Film music takes centre stage at Adelaide Entertainment Centre, where the ASO will perform the scores to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and How To Train Your Dragon 2 live to screen. A Lord of the Rings concert returns with The Art of the Score podcast, and gaming fans can hear Christopher Larkin’s score from the Adelaide-made video game Hollow Knight performed live.
ASO Concertmaster Kate Suthers will lead a reimagined performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons at St Peter’s Cathedral.
Regional concerts and community programs
The orchestra’s reach extends well beyond the Adelaide CBD. Regional concerts are scheduled for Whyalla, Port Pirie, Gawler and Noarlunga, while Wigglesworth will present the world premiere of his own orchestration of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 at UKARIA Cultural Centre in Mount Barker.
“The 2027 Season is about creating opportunities for everyone to experience the ASO,” Suthers says. “Whether that’s through film, gaming or family concerts, immersing yourself in Beethoven or hearing something for the very first time, the season has something for every audience member that is unique to South Australia.”
Family programming continues after sold-out concerts in 2026, with relaxed performances, the Sanctuary Series exploring music and wellbeing, and educational programs including school excursions and the Compose with ASO initiative. Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra will be presented with comedian Sammy J.
Season packages are on sale now, with single tickets available from November.
Explore the full program at aso.com.au
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