QPAC

Before the international stages, landmark recordings and millions of online followers, there was Brisbane.

Ray Chen grew up here, began his musical life here and took some of his earliest steps as a performer here. His return to QPAC is more than another date on an international tour: it is a homecoming.

For this concert, Chen is joined by the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra in a program that travels from eighteenth-century Venice to twentieth-century Buenos Aires. Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons remains one of classical music’s most immediate and exhilarating works, filled with birdsong, storms, blazing heat and winter ice.

Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires responds with an entirely different climate. Tango rhythms rise through the strings; melodies smoulder, collide and dance; the seasons unfold against the energy of the city.

Heard together, these works create an evening full of contrast, colour and momentum and a rare opportunity to welcome one of Brisbane’s great musical success stories home.