Original Rachmaninoff in an Australian first and Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony.

Our 2012 season concludes with Ashkenazy's grand celebration of the music of Tchaikovsky over three weeks. To begin, Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and a piano concerto by Rachmaninoff, the composer who took up the Romantic baton and carried it into the 20th century.

Sydney pianist Scott Davie brings inspired advocacy to the original version of Rachmaninoff's Fourth Piano Concerto. Torn by self-doubt, Rachmaninoff had a bad habit of revising his works, all too often cutting the heart out of the music - this is a chance to hear the fourth concerto in all the dark glamour and thrilling excitement of its original form.

Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony follows the Alpine wanderings of a Byronic hero torn by despair and anguish. Emotional torment, dramatic storytelling, glittering magical worlds... these are some of the things Tchaikovsky does best.