Sydney Symphony Orchestra Holdings Pty Limited

In 2024 the Sydney Symphony Orchestra again made an extraordinary contribution to the artistic and cultural life of Australia. It presented more than 200 events which were attended by more than 260,000 music lovers, including: o 148 mainstage performances, o Concerts in Wyong, Newcastle, Goulburn, Penrith, Wollongong and Nowra; o 11 community outreach and engagement events; and o 15 Schools performances and 15 Schools workshops, catering to more than 12,000 students. Under the continued artistic leadership of our wonderful Chief Conductor, Simone Young, the Orchestra broke new ground in delivering ambitious major projects, inspiring collaborations and unforgettable performances the equal of any in the world. Our season began with Mahler s Fifth Symphony and the Australian premiere of a new violin concerto by French composer Camille Pépin, masterfully performed by soloist Renaud Capuçon. Sydney audiences experienced onceinalifetime events in Wagner s Die Walküre, the second instalment in our fouryear Ring Cycle, and Arnold Schoenberg s Gurrelieder, which saw the Sydney Opera House filled with more than 400 performers. 2024 was also highlighted by the broad diversity of our artistic offering. From the greatest classical composers to beloved film scores and highenergy collaborations with contemporary performers, we welcomed an increasingly diverse audience to our performances. We also connected more broadly with audiences around Australia and the world by filming four of our performances for streaming on demand and continued our longstanding partnership with the ABC to capture and broadcast our performances on ABC Classic. Our audiences were treated to an extraordinary array of international artists who performed with us in 2024. Principal Guest Conductor Sir Donald Runnicles led an international contingent of inspiring conductors and worldclass soloists such as Dalia Stasevska, Vasily Petrenko, Osmo Vänskä, Nobuyuki Tsujii, Alban Gerhardt, Jess Gillam, Víkingur Ólafsson and Joyce Yang. We also shared the stage with some of Australia s finest performers, including Stuart Skelton, Lior, Andrea Lam, Nigel Westlake, Anna Dowsley, and Paul Grabowsky. 2024 was also a year of inspiring collaborations with First Nations artists. The very first notes played in our Season were by Kamilaroi musician, artist, researcher and educator Adam Manning, and it was our great honour to perform Deborah Cheetham Fraillon s Eumeralla: A War Requiem for Peace and Wata: a gathering for songmen, improvising soloists and orchestra. In 2024 the Orchestra travelled to Wyong, Newcastle, Goulburn, Penrith, Wollongong and Nowra, performing a wide range of music from the Baroque to the present day. Especially exciting was the opportunity to bring Grammynominated violin virtuoso Augustin Hadelich to Nowra and Wollongong, giving audiences in these cities the chance to hear one of the world s finest musicians