Anna Lapwood performs Max Richter with Sydney Symphony Orchestra
An evening of Anna Lapwood playing the magnificent Sydney Opera House organ accompanied by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonia Choir is a transcendent experience of world class artistry.
Composer Max Richter may be best known for his movie and television soundtracks but his entire output is significantly broader and diverse. He has also composed music for stage, opera, and ballet. He has collaborated with other musicians, as well as with performance, installation, and media artists. He has recorded eight solo albums including his eight hour concept album Sleep. Sleep was created with his partner, visual artist Yulia Mahr, with advice from American neuroscientist David Eagleman, to mimic a full night’s sleep. It has been streamed over two billion times. One-hour versions (From Sleep) are similarly extremely popular. His music, especially his signature piece On the Nature of Daylight, has been used in soundtracks for Stranger than Fiction, Shutter Island, The Last of Us, Black Mirror, and an anniversary episode of EastEnders. His soundtrack for Hamnet was nominated for an Academy Award.
Organist Anna Lapwood is a dynamic and skilful performer and her effervescent personality brought delight to the concert and charmed the audience. Anna Lapwood is the official organist of the Royal Albert Hall, and formerly the Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, a composer and arranger with numerous significant credits, and has worked extensively on various BBC projects.
The concert included two works commissioned for Anna Lapwood, and a 1944 concerto by Béla Bartók. Firstly, there was a one movement work: Toccata, by a young Armenian composer Kristina Arakelyan. This was followed by the Australian premiere of Max Richter’s four-part concerto for organ, orchestra, and choir, Cosmology. After intermission the audience was treated to Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.
Kristina Arakelyan’s Toccata is bright and energetic, and a brief showcasing of her talent and the orchestra. Kristina Arakelyan has found a wonderful balance of imagination, colour, dissonance and tone. The awe-inspiring music of a young composer and the combined talents of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is an impressive introduction to the evening.
Max Richter’s Cosmology describes a circular journey departing from Earth, travelling through distant reaches of the universe, and returning to Earth. The four parts are: Voyagers, describing the excitement and energy before the journey; Orion Nebula, ‘star nursery’ full of young and unformed stars; The Pleiades, named after seven sisters of Greek mythology; and Earthrise, referencing the iconic photo taken from Apollo 8 in 1968. For a composer known for deliberately writing music to sleep by, and also known for ambient synthesizer music, Cosmology is lively, informative and engaging. It is complex and diverse and makes one feel entirely present on a space travelling journey. The ethereal voices of the all-female Sydney Philharmonia Choir blend sublimely with the magnificent Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
After Cosmology Anna Lapwood played a brief encore and treated the audience with music from the film Interstellar. She described it the music from the scene where the spaceship is spinning out of control, and features the quote: “It’s not possible. No, it’s necessary.” Her banter with the crowd was as impressive as the music.
Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra was composed in 1943 while Bartók was a refugee in the USA. Commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony, in memory of the conductor’s wife, Natalie. It is an innovative blend of folksong and Classical forms. It opens with a slow introduction, passionate violins and melodic trumpets but a an uneven
metre introduced by the violins, an ungainly trombone theme, and a mesmerising melody
on the oboe, forecast the great variations that astound the audience throughout Bartók’s Concerto. It must also be a joy and a challenge for the musicians in the orchestra to convey Bartók’s vision.
Anna Lapwood’s banter and introductions added a special dimension to the music and performances. It was a joy to attend.
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Friday 27th March, 2026, 8.00pm
André de Ridder conductor
Elizabeth Scott chorus master
Photography credits Jay Patel
