Convent Sounds opens on the Heritage Garden on 25 October with an 11-piece brass ensemble, then returns on 6 December.
Classical music on a picnic rug: Convent Sounds puts MSO brass on Abbotsford Convent’s Heritage Garden for $20.
MSO+, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s community arm, has partnered with Abbotsford Convent for Convent Sounds, a pair of daytime concerts on the Convent’s heritage lawns. Adult tickets are capped at $20 and anyone under 18 gets in free, paid for by a grant from the Robert Salzer Foundation. Gates open at 3pm, the music runs 3.30pm to 5pm.
Convent Sounds
- 25 October – Heritage Garden, Abbotsford Convent: 11-piece brass ensemble featuring MSO and ANAM musicians
- 6 December – Heritage Garden, Abbotsford Convent: festive community singalong featuring MSO musicians
- Gates 3pm, performance 3.30pm to 5pm
- Tickets $20 for adults, free for 0-17 years
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The 25 October opener is an 11-piece brass ensemble drawn from the MSO and the Australian National Academy of Music, which lives at the Convent year-round. Baroque repertoire sits alongside Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and the screen music of John Williams, so Star Wars, Harry Potter and Jurassic Park all land on the lawn before 5pm.
December’s instalment swaps the brass for voices. MSO musicians lead a community singalong on 6 December, same lawn, same start time, with the audience doing a fair chunk of the work.
MSO+ is the orchestra’s musician-led initiative, built in 2026 to put players in front of communities across Melbourne and regional Victoria rather than keeping them inside Hamer Hall. Violinist Monica Curro, who has spent decades in the MSO, runs it as creative director.
Picnic packages, food and a bar will be available on the day, and you can bring your own spread instead. The Convent sits at 1 St Heliers Street in Abbotsford, a short walk from the Yarra and the Collingwood Children’s Farm, and the grounds are open from 7.30am daily if you want to make an afternoon of it.
For more information, head here.
