★★★½☆ A triumphant performance from Australia’s top young players despite some shaky moments.

Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
August 6, 2016

The Australian Youth Orchestra is nearly 60-years old, but all its members are under 25. Auditions are exacting, competition fierce, and alumni generally go on to play in Australian or international orchestras. The AYO has recently returned from a tour of Europe and China with conductor Manfred Honeck, Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, at the helm, and tonight at Hamer Hall there is palpable anticipation and excitement from a home crowd.

Carl Vine’s Celebrare Celeberrime (1993) began proceedings with a bang: a short, exuberant explosion of colour performed with so full an orchestra that little space remained on stage. This was a perfect choice for an opener: it warmed everyone up, winked playfully at Ravel and even gave Mahler a brassy nod. The passages featuring harp with muted trombone were particularly exciting. The AYO tore through Vine’s work with excitement and confident youthful vigour, and it was a delight.

After the stage was reconfigured for an orchestra substantially reduced in size, acclaimed award-winning French pianist Hélène Grimaud arrived to perform Ravel’s 1931 masterpiece, the Piano Concerto in G....