VCA events

• Unbound frequencies

  Tuesday 28 July 2026 7:30pm - 8:40pm

  Unbound Frequencies showcases new composer-performer works from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music’s Interactive Composition community. Exploring synthesis, audiovisual performance, spatial sound, and experimental music practices, the program traverses immersive sonic environments, live electr...

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• Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) Showcase Concert 2026

  Wednesday 29 July 2026 7:30pm - 9:15pm

  Join our Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) students in their annual showcase concert. You will hear the entire cohort perform alongside elite musicians from our city’s professional orchestras. The concert will be introduced by members of the ensemble and directed by Richard Davis and Tim B...

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• Classical Voice Mega Day 2026

  Sunday 2 August 2026 9:30am - 6:00pm

  We are inviting high school students and singing teachers with an interest in classical voice to join us for a celebration of all things singing with Conservatorium staff, students and alumni at a free Classical Voice Mega Day. Participants will engage in workshops, masterclasses and rehearsals, ...

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• Bach reimagined

  Tuesday 4 August 2026 7:30pm - 8:45pm

  Join renowned pianist Kristian Chong in Bach works for keyboard and works for other instruments that have been transcribed and reimagined by masterful composers Liszt and Busoni for the piano. Opening with grandeur, Bach’s Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue remains one of his most daring and innova...

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• Earth-Like

  Wednesday 5 August 2026 7:00pm - 8:15pm

  Quercus Trio, pioneers in celebrating Australian horn trios, present trios by Don Banks and John Polglase alongside Stuart Greenbaum’s horn trio “Earth-Like,” a world premiere exploring our search for habitable worlds and what makes us human. From cosmic conditions for life to intimat...

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• Letters to Louise

  Tuesday 11 August 2026 7:30pm - 8:30pm

  A Musical Tribute to the Legacy of Louise Hanson-Dyer In a tribute to the great 20th century patron of the arts and music publisher, Louise Hanson-Dyer, mesmerising mezzo-soprano Dimity Shepherd partners with pianist Caroline Almonte to present a breathtakingly diverse collection of works com...

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• The sonata as storytelling

  Tuesday 18 August 2026 7:30pm - 9:10pm

  The Sonata as Storytelling explores the sonata as a powerful vehicle for musical narrative, bringing together two masterpieces that reveal the expressive possibilities of the form across two centuries. Composed in the final months of his life, Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A major, D959 unfolds ...

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• Australian Wind Quintet perform Gounod, Klughardt and Coleman

  Tuesday 25 August 2026 7:30pm - 8:40pm

  Celebrate an exciting moment in Melbourne’s musical community with the Australian Wind Quintet in a vibrant concert marking the commencement of new flute lecturer Catherine Gregory at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. The program features Gounod’s charming Petite Symphonie, performed alo...

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• Jazz & Improvisation staff and students in concert #2 2026

  Tuesday 1 September 2026 7:30pm - 8:30pm

  The Jazz & Improvisation department celebrate the rich diversity and brilliance of the Australian jazz and improvised music community in this concert, featuring many of their staff and students performing a wide range of repertoire side by side. This recital is presented as part of the Ha...

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• Twilight

  Friday 4 September 2026 8:00pm - 9:30pm

  Associate Professor and Principal Fellow Dr Zachary Dunbar presents a piano recital at Tempo Rubato Brunswick. The recital is built around the theme of twilight. From Adès’ otherworldly Darknesse Visible to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, Zachary explores music that captures the nostalgia and s...

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• Southbank Series: In Full Flight

  Saturday 5 September 2026 7:30pm - 9:00pm

  The second concert in the Southbank Series draws together four composers across three centuries, each with a distinct voice. Program Igor Stravinsky Danses Concertantes Carl Nielsen Flute ConcertoLisa-Maree Amos, Section Principal Flute Paul Stanhope ApolloLudwig van Beethoven Sympho...

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• Lyrebird Brass: the timeless and the new

  Tuesday 8 September 2026 7:30pm - 8:30pm

  Join us for an extraordinary musical journey bridging centuries and styles. The program opens with elegant compositions by French Baroque master Jean-Philippe Rameau arranged here for brass quintet, followed by From Clans of Land and Sea by ANU Professor Chris Sainsbury, a prominent First Nat...

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• Echoes of song

  Tuesday 15 September 2026 7:30pm - 9:00pm

  This recital explores the cello as a singer without words. From Chopin’s deeply lyrical Etude op. 25 no. 7, originally written for piano, to Schubert’s beloved Arpeggione Sonata, a work renowned for its beautiful song-like qualities, this program highlights the instrument’s unique ability to embo...

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• Collisions 2026

  5 August 2026 - 16 September 2026

  Collisions brings together musicians, dancers and artists for a night of cross-disciplinary improvisation and collaboration. Celebrating spontaneity, experimentation and the new - Collisions is a series of interdisciplinary improv nights curated by students from the Conservatorium Jazz and Im...

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• Bach and Shostakovich

  Tuesday 22 September 2026 7:30pm - 9:00pm

  Contrast and transformation: Bach’s Goldberg Variations unfold in a new form, with variations shared between the solo piano original and Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s string trio transcription. This interplay of textures reveals unexpected colours in one of music’s most iconic works. Completing the progra...

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• Masters & Apprentices: the music of Kris Davis

  Tuesday 6 October 2026 7:30pm - 8:30pm

  The Jazz & Improvisation department celebrate the music of Canadian jazz pianist and composer, Kris Davis. This special project large ensemble features J&I third-year and Honours students alongside their director Andrea Keller. Previous directors have included Melissa Aldana (Chile/US...

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• Canticles, rivers and horns: a homage to Britten

  Tuesday 13 October 2026 7:30pm - 8:30pm

  Join tenor Michael Petruccelli, pianist Andrea Katz, and horn player Carla Blackwood as they mark the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s passing. This special program pairs Britten’s deeply expressive 20th-century masterpieces with the timeless lyricism of his favorite composer, Franz Sch...

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• Dedications

  Tuesday 20 October 2026 7:30pm - 8:30pm

  The Sutherland Trio (Caroline Almonte, Molly Kadarauch and Elizabeth Sellars) together with their friends Danielle and Luca Arcaro perform an all-Australian program of works connected to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music community. Featuring two world premieres, ‘Songs for Manny’ by Ella Mace...

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• Keyboard Festival 2026: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Complete Preludes and Fugues Opus 87

  31 October 2026 - 1 November 2026

  The Keyboard Area staff of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music invites pianists and music lovers alike for a rare opportunity to hear the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich at the 2026 Keyboard Festival. Among the most distinguished pianists in Australia, these performan...

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• Keyboard Festival 2026: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Complete Preludes and Fugues Opus 87

  31 October 2026 - 1 November 2026

  The Keyboard Area staff of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music invites pianists and music lovers alike for a rare opportunity to hear the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich at the 2026 Keyboard Festival. Among the most distinguished pianists in Australia, these performan...

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• Gender Defying Jazz 2026

  8 November 2026 - 6 December 2026

  Gender Defying Jazz (GDJ) is a program run by Andrea Keller, Head of Jazz & Improvisation at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. Beginning in 2017 and originally called Girls Do Jazz, the name of the program has been changed to Gender Defying Jazz, to more truly re...

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