The Sydney Symphony performs Max Richter's Recomposed: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

The Sydney Symphony are playing the Concert Hall at Newcastle City Hall on Thursday 26 November, with Max Richter's Recomposed: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons at the centre of the programme. It's a contemporary reimagining of Vivaldi's original, stripped back to its essence and rebuilt from the ground up, so it's the Four Seasons as you know it, but seen through a different lens.

Richter's piece doesn't stand alone on the night. It's paired with his On the Nature of Daylight and Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, both of which have become staples of film and TV soundtracks over the years. If you recognise them, it's likely from a movie or a series rather than a concert hall, so hearing them live in the same evening as the Vivaldi reimagining gives the whole programme a similar cinematic thread.

Conducting is Benjamin Northey, the Sydney Symphony's Conductor in Residence. He's also the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and in 2025 he was appointed Professor of Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Director of the Australian Conducting Academy. On the violin is Associate Concertmaster Harry Bennetts, playing a 1716 Grancino violin known as the 'Hazelwood' violin. It was the concertmaster's instrument for the Sydney Symphony from 1965 to 1998 and is now on loan to the orchestra from Vicki Olsson.

Tickets start from A$51, with the Sydney Symphony performing at the Concert Hall in Newcastle City Hall on 26 November.