Alive with musical exchange, 18th-century Vienna was known as a city where composers, performers and patrons moved within the same close-knit circles, sharing ideas as readily as they shared the stage.

Vienna and Beyond

The Queen's Hall

Yuja Wang does double duty as pianist and director in a program of 20th-century favorites by Prokofiev with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

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Yuja Wang & Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Davies Symphony Hall

Our Children’s Messiah performances are specially crafted with young audiences and curious first-time concertgoers in mind!

Children’s Messiah - 2026

Although the Hallelujah chorus has become the work’s calling card, Handel wrote every note to impress and astound his listeners. Its choruses are as grand as anything Handel ever composed, the solo writing profoundly moving, the drama powerful and compelling. Performed ‘the Dunedin way’ as Handel would have first heard it, with a small orchestra, a team of twelve singers and soloists who step out from the chorus, there are few more uplifting ways to celebrate the festive season.

Handel: Messiah

The scene: Vienna, 1780s. The city is buzzing to the music of Joseph Haydn and his contemporaries Carl von Dittersdorf and Jan Vanhal, and a younger arrival, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Gossip in the gazettes and coffee houses is of the four getting together in a supergroup quartet. Perhaps trying out some of the cutting-edge musical ideas they’d later drop on Vienna’s concert-going public. In time, Dittersdorf and Vanhal slip from the spotlight their more famous friends own for centuries, but tonight’s concert rewinds the story. The music of the whole quartet breathes again. It lasts.

A Viennese House Party

Southbank Centre

Tonight, all four take centre stage with time on their side, night-time string vibes and low notes stealing the show … if you think pop has all the fun, wait till these four have begun.

Matthew Truscott

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 16, 2026

Children’s Messiah - 2026 · The Queen's Hall

Dec 16, 2026

Handel: Messiah · The Queen's Hall

Jan 28, 2027

A Viennese House Party · Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Jan 28, 2027

A Viennese House Party · Southbank Centre

Past events

Sep 27, 2026

Vienna and Beyond · The Queen's Hall

Apr 26, 2026

Yuja Wang & Mahler Chamber Orchestra · Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Violin in Messiah by Handel

The Queen's Hall

About

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