The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is launching its 2026 season with Baroque Masters, a concert series dedicated to the composers who shaped the ensemble's identity over 35 years.
Led by artistic director Paul Dyer, Baroque Masters brings together works from Handel, Bach, Pachelbel and Vivaldi across a run of Melbourne and Sydney shows in February. The program spans the grandeur of Handel’s Concerto Grosso in G major to the fiery brilliance of Vivaldi’s La Folia, alongside Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 and Pachelbel’s beloved Canon in D.
The concert series will showcase the breadth of the Brandenburg’s musicians, moving from intimate solos to full ensemble performances.
Baroque Masters
- When: 12-15 February (Melbourne), 18-24 February (Sydney)
- Where: Melbourne Recital Centre / City Recital Hall, Sydney
- Tickets: brandenburg.com.au
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Principal baroque oboe Adam Masters takes centre stage for Marcello’s Concerto for Oboe in D minor, while principal baroque flute Melissa Farrow performs JJ Quantz’s Concerto in G major and appears as recorder soloist in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto IV alongside Mikaela Oberg and concertmaster Shaun Lee-Chen.
Melissa Farrow, Principal Baroque Flute says: “I enjoy introducing Quantz to our audiences. Employed at the Prussian Court, he was a virtuoso flautist, all round superb musician and writer of an important resource for all musicians, his ‘Versuch’. Quantz was a strong advocate for stirring the passions of the listener. I adore the concerto’s lively, exhilarating Allegro and shimmeringly fast Presto movements and the heart-wrenching Arioso e mesto (sad and singing) in g minor between the quicker outer movements.”
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra made its debut at the Sydney Opera House in 1990 and has since become the nation’s flagship period orchestra. Over 35 years, the ensemble has built a reputation for reinterpreting baroque and classical early music on period instruments, earning ARIA awards and contributing to Hollywood movie scores alongside regular sell-out concert halls across the country.
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