Season announcements for the new year always start as a trickle and quickly escalate to a flood. To help make life more manageable, this year ArtsHub will be compiling the 2026 announcements we receive into this regularly updated guide, in order to help you stay on top of what the new year has in store.
As in previous years, some of the smaller companies – especially those that are regionally based – are unlikely to announce their new seasons until 2026 is underway. No matter! We’ll include such announcements here also, as they come to hand.
2026 season announcements: quick links
September updates:
Bell Shakespeare
Bell Shakespeare’s newly launched 2026 season features three productions: a national tour of the company’s ‘grim but gripping‘ (Australlian Financial Review) Macbeth from 2023, the world premiere of Mackenzie, a new play by Fangirls creator Yve Blake, and a new production of Julius Caesar.
‘Welcome to season 2026, a season of ambition, guilt and idealised murder. First up is Julius Caesar, one of the most famous political plays of all time, centred on the most famous murder in western history. After Coriolanus this year, I’m fascinated to produce Julius Caesar again, another of Shakespeare’s history-based Roman plays, and see how one informs the other,’ said the company’s Artistic Director Peter Evans.
‘Our national tour sees the return of our highly successful production of Macbeth with a new cast to take our séance-inspired nightmare world around the country. And excitingly, we have a brand new play Mackenzie by Yve Blake. Yve is one of the most exciting and hilarious writers in Australia, and when she sent us her new play about an ambitious teenage TV star and her relentless stage mother we were delighted; horrified and delighted. We can’t wait to welcome audiences to the theatre next year.’
Evans will direct Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s exploration of the cost of ambition, loyalty and power; the cast includes Leon Ford (Elvis, Hamlet) as Cassius and Brigid Zengeni (Coriolanus, The Artful Dodger) as Brutus. Julius Caesar has returned from battle triumphant and is repeatedly offered the crown. Brutus and Cassius conspire against Caesar, fearful of his growing influence, triggering shocking acts of violence and devastating consequences. Opening in Sydney in March, the production will subsequently tour to Canberra and Melbourne.
Fresh off a stint touring her ‘fresh and original’ hit musical Fangirls in London, award-winning creator Yve Blake premieres her new work, Mackenzie – a twisted, comic and deeply camp reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. What if Macbeth was a 13-year-old child star in the heights of early 2000s TV stardom and Lady Macbeth was her ruthlessly ambitious stage mum? Directed by actor Virginia Gay, the Artistic Director of Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and featuring Blake’s original music, Mackenzie will open in Sydney in June before touring to Melbourne.
For the company’s annual national tour, Evans’ ‘utterly compelling’ (Sydney Morning Herald) 2023 take on Macbeth will tour to over 20 venues across the country. Anthony Taufa (Coriolanus, Jailbaby) stars in the titular role alongside Matilda Ridgway (Coriolanus, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Bump) as Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare’s supernatural thriller follows the story of Macbeth, a Scottish genera, famed for his exploits on the battlefield. Set in the moody 1920s, post-World War I, the production portrays moral collapse and an intense and compelling journey into the dark heart of humanity.
Alongside its mainstage programming, Bell Shakespeare continues its extensive national outreach and education program in schools, communities and Juvenile Justice centres across Australia throughout 2026. A range of ancillary events, including panel discussions, lectures and the script reading series Play In A Day, are also programmed next year.
Visit Bell Shakespeare’s website for full program details.
Selby & Friends
Chamber music ensemble Selby & Friends, founded by pianist Kathryn Selby AM in 2007, celebrates its 20th season in 2026. Five concert tours to Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and the NSW Southern Highlands have been programmed for the new year, including works by Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, Milhaud, Arensky and Dvořák, as well as several living Australian composers.
Highlights include Tour 2: From Romance to Reckoning, which features a composite piece by eight Australian women composers exploring the very real drama associated with bushfires, as well as works by Schumann and Mendelssohn. Entitled Fire Dances Suite and instigated by composer Natalie Williams, the project was commissioned through the support of a Fresh Start Grant, funded by ABC Classic in 2020, following the ferocious and destructive Black Summer of 2019-2020. Fire Dances Suite includes creative voices from every Australian state and territory.
A more pastoral version of the Australian bush features in Tour 3: Bush, Borscht & Bonn, thanks to the inclusion of Ross Edwards’ Piano Trio for Piano, Violin and Violoncello (1998) alongside pieces by Beethoven and Arensky. The fifth and final program for 2026, Creation of the World, focuses on fostering the talents and experiences of the next generations of Australian artists and features newcomers Louise Turnbull (violin) and Ariel Postmus (viola), alongside Selby and guest artists performing works by Dvořák, Milhaud and Mozart.
Many of Selby & Friends’ 2026 guests hold principal positions in Australia’s major orchestras, such as SSO Concertmaster Andrew Haveron and Associate Concertmaster Alexandra Osborne, MSO Concertmaster Natalie Chee and ACO Principal Cellist Timo-Veikko Valve. Several return home to Australia from their international activities overseas: violinist Susie Park and award-winning cellists Richard Narroway and Clancy Newman.
Visit Selby & Friends for details on concert subscriptions and single tickets.
2026 season announcements in August
Australian Chamber Orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra‘s 2026 National Concert Season includes the world premiere of an ACO commission from Academy and Golden Globe-winning Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir; her new work will be performed in the mid-year concert From Winter’s Stillness alongside a 2008 Sigur Rós track ‘Fljótavík’ arranged for trumpet and strings. The same program also features the acclaimed Trio Mediæval, comprising vocalists Anna Maria Friman, Ditte Marie Bræin and Jorunn Lovise Husan.
Another ACO commission having its world premiere next year is Pulitzer Prize-winning US composer John Luther Adams’ Horizon, while works receiving their Australian premieres include American Ellen Reid’s West Coast Sky Eternal and Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė’s De Profundis. Other season highlights include the special concert Mozart’s Last Symphonies in September, for which the 17-strong ACO will significantly expand to perform Mozart’s final three symphonies, and the December performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, performed in partnership with The Song Company.
‘Music has always been a way to hold onto time, or at least to touch it differently. This season, we travel through music that doesn’t simply mark time, it questions it. Pieces that remind us of what music has always done best: to hold a moment just long enough to feel outside of time,’ said ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti.
Ticket and subscription details for all concerts in the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s 2026 National Concert Season can be found at the ACO’s website.
Melbourne Chamber Orchestra
Five orchestral programs at Melbourne Recital Centre, a three-concert chamber music series, the return of the popular A Feast of Music festival in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, and three world premieres by Australian composers are featured in the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra’s 2026 season.
The season opens in February with Flexible Sky, featuring guitar virtuoso Slava Grigoryan and a world premiere by the exceptional jazz pianist Joe Chindamo OAM, and concludes in November with Drifting Currents,featuring the world premiere of Alice Humphries’ Cello Concerto, written especially for MCO cellist Blair Harris. Other highlights include May’s Overgrown Paths concert, featuring Vivaldi’s beloved music and his less familiar poetry as performed by the ACO with violinist Sophie Rowell and actor and narrator Helen Morse, and in October, the world premiere of composer Miriama Young’s DuskLit Meditations, created from field recordings by young people in climate-affected communities.
Founded in 1997, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra is Victoria’s preeminent professional chamber orchestra. Visit the MCO’s website for season and subscription details.
Melbourne Recital Centre
Melbourne Recital Centre’s 2026 season is the first to be overseen by the venue’s recently appointed Director of Programming, Iain Grandage AM, with additional artistic contributions from guest curator Matthew Hoy. The season also builds on the work done by the Centre’s former director, Marshall McGuire.
‘This program is a thrilling mix of the known and the new, featuring artists of the highest quality from around the globe. As I begin my journey at the Melbourne Recital Centre, I’m inviting everyone to continue theirs by joining us for this season,’ Grandage said.
Program highlights include the Brodsky Quartet joining forces with yidaki maestro William Barton in February 2026 for a cross-cultural performance responding to the bushfire crisis in Australia; a pop culture meets chamber music concert in September when Bryce Dessner of The National pairs with musicians from Sydney Symphony Orchestra to further expand the definition of ‘classical’ music; and in October, the MRC debut of acclaimed British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, a bright new star in the classical music firmament following her successful concerto debut at the BBC Proms in 2023.
Visit Melbourne Recital Centre for full season details.
Musica Viva
Musica Viva Australia’s 2026 concert program features seven national tours, six premieres and 49 concerts across six states and territories, performed by local and international artists including London-based powerhouse the Doric String Quartet, much-loved Australian clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff, superstar British pianist Paul Lewis, French-American lutenist Thomas Dunford, and the Latvian Radio Choir with ARIA award-winning recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey.
Highlights include Beethoven’s Ghost in May, featuring three Australian artists – pianist, storyteller and FutureMaker, Auro Go, Finnish-Australian cellist Timo-Veikko Valve, and violin virtuoso Kristian Winter – performing Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Piano Trio in D, in a concert that also features a new commission by Australian composer Melody Eötvös. In June, London’s Doric String Quartet together with Australian clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff perform Thomas Adès’ Alchymia for clarinet quintet, a piece The Guardian called, ‘one of the best chamber music compositions of our time’, and in October, the Latvian Radio Choir – one of Europe’s most in-demand chamber choirs – perform works by Caroline Shaw, Mendelssohn and Pēteris Vasks as well as new commissions from Ēriks Ešenvalds, and creative collaborators Hollis Taylor and Jon Rose.
Musica Viva Australia Artistic Director, Paul Kildea said, ‘I’m delighted to share a 2026 concert season full of verve, beauty and optimism. Chamber music has such a special ability to uplift, to provoke meaning and to provide a profound sense of connection, all things which I feel are ever more important.
‘I’m especially proud to offer performances that are at once familiar and unexpected – such as the debut of lutenist Thomas Dunford with Nicolas Altstaedt, which will be extraordinary – and tours which combine international and homegrown artists – such as Doric String Quartet with magnificent clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff – and internationally-acclaimed creations such as A Winter’s Journey, which bring a uniquely Australian point of view to much-loved masterpieces.’
Visit Musica Viva’s website for 2026 season details, including the Sydney Morning Masters daytime concert series.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s 2026 season celebrates the Orchestra’s 120th year with a program spanning centuries and genres, featuring canonical masterworks alongside brand new compositions, and showcasing celebrated Australian and international artists.
‘I am thrilled to be performing in Melbourne with our wonderful Orchestra and our recently appointed Concertmaster Natalie Chee,’ said Chief Conductor Jaime Martín. ‘Our distinguished international guests include French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, UK cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, American pianist Kirill Gerstein, soprano Danielle de Niese and Spanish violinist María Dueñas.’
The MSO reinforces its commitment to sharing orchestral music as widely as possible in 2026, with additional no-to low-cost concerts embedding the Orchestra within a range of communities across Victoria, including Frankston, Geelong, Ringwood, Sale, Castlemaine and Cowes as well as the Melbourne CBD.
Season highlights include a Brahms Festival in November, featuring six concerts across two weeks led by Martín and featuring such guests as internationally acclaimed Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin and Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel; and an ongoing celebration of extraordinary women in music, including the Australian premiere of Melbourne composer Melody Eötvös The Deciding Machine, honouring women’s suffrage and Ada Lovelace’s pioneering computer work in a program for International Women’s Day.
Season 2026 also features 29 new works commissioned by the MSO, further contributing to a body of new and modern orchestral music by living composers. Visit the MSO website for concert details and subscriptions.
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
‘In our modern world, everything seems fleeting and impermanent,’ said Chief Conductor Simone Young.
‘Which is why music – and especially live performance – remains so vital to the human condition … nothing compares to the emotional journey music takes you on, inspiring feelings you didn’t even know you had.’
Young called the SSO’s 2026 season, which opens with Mahler’s Song of the Earth, a meditation on life, beauty and impermanence, and concludes with Wagner’s cataclysmic Götterdämmerung: Twilight of the Gods, ‘a season of tremendous richness, performed by an orchestra the equal of any in the world’.
The SSO’s end of year performance of Götterdämmerung marks the culmination of the Orchestra’s landmark multi-year presentation of the complete Ring Cycle. The project has been a centrepiece of Simone Young’s tenure and its dramatic conclusion follows her historic appearances at the Bayreuth Festival, where in 2024 she became the first woman and first Australian to conduct the full cycle, reprising the feat in 2025.
Other SSO highlights in 2026 include appearance by the next generation of international orchestral stars and fast-rising young soloists, with María Dueñas, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Ivan Karizna and Anastasia Kobekina making their Sydney Symphony debuts; the Australian premieres of major concertos by Max Richter and Bryce Dessner, performed by the soloists for whom they were written; the world premieres of new works by Australian composers Lisa Illean, Nigel Westlake (written for the SSO’s Principal Percussion Rebecca Lagos) and Ella Macens; and for one night only, an exploration and celebration of the music of William Barton, who composes for voice, yidaki and orchestra, including his works Birdsong at Dusk and Journey to the Edge of the Horizon.
Visit the Sydney Symphony for subscription and ticket details.
2026 season guides already announced:
Some companies have already launched their 2026 seasons, with corresponding coverage provided by ArtsHub.
Ensemble Theatre
Ten productions have been programmed for Ensemble Theatre’s 2026 season, including four new Australian productions, one of them by David Williamson AO. William’s new satire, The Social Ladder, which is described as a dissection of ‘the fragile performance of status – and the outrageous lengths we’ll go to just to be seen’. Learn more in ArtsHub’s stand-alone story about Ensemble Theatre’s 2026 season.
ArtsHub: My Brilliant Career: MTC announces encore season of original musical in 2026
Opera Australia
Australia’s national opera company launched its 2026 season on 6 August, at which time the company was still without an Artistic Director and a CEO, following the well-documented turmoil of 2024. Opera Australia’s 2026 season includes an astute balance of crowd-pleasing musicals, new and recent works including a new opera, The Drover’s Wife and a remount of Watershed: The Death of Doctor Duncan, as well as old favourites. Thankfully, Opera Australia filled three of its key leadership positions – Chair, CEO and Music Director – a few weeks after the new season was launched. The remaining leadership role, the Head of Opera, is expected to be filled shortly, after which it is hoped Opera Australia’s artistic output, not its internal ructions, will be the main focus of headlines thereafter.
This article was first published on 3 September. It was updated on 5 September at 11:31am to include details of Bell Shakespeare and Selby & Friends’ 2026 seasons.
