Australian masters lead future music-makers in an inspiring night of passionate music making.

There’s nothing quite like the excited buzz of an expectant audience milling and mingling in the foyer before a show. The fervent mixture of anticipation and celebration is perhaps the best way to describe the vibe at the Melbourne Recital Centre last night at ANAM’s first orchestral showcase concert at the venue this year. Everyone knew something truly special was about to happen, with a program headed by two internationally renowned Aussies, and an impossibly young (and impressively talented) group of musicians from Australia’s elite performance training academy.

Simone Young walked out to the podium to greet her eager audience with a heartfelt address that tearfully acknowledged the very recent passing of one of Australia’s most cherished legends in composition, Peter Sculthorpe. She described Sculthorpe as a voice of many generations, and one whose music was “infused with the colours of Australia’s extraordinary landscape”. It was profoundly fitting, then, that this concert celebrating the achievements of the next generation of Australian musicians be dedicated to a composer who also inspired so many through his devotion to music.

With a final nod to this most cherished...