When Queensland Symphony Orchestra tours, they have fun. How much fun? We can’t tell you that because, as they say, what happens on tour, stays on tour. QSO chief executive officer Michael Sterzinger says it’s all good clean fun.
“It’s so nice, everyone is relaxed,” Sterzinger says. “You’re away with friends and people want to have a good time.”
The German-born arts administrator and musician (he plays the tuba with the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra) has seen a lot of Queensland. He was with QSO from 2013 to 2021 in another role, then joined Camerata, Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, before returning to the QSO. In all his roles, touring has been part of the job.
This week QSO embarks on its impressive 2025 regional concert, engagement and education program. Headlining the regional residency is a series of concerts in Gladstone, Townsville and Mackay performed by a full orchestra of up to 60 musicians.
The 2025 tour is the second in QSO’s five-year regional touring program, developed to give thousands of regional and remote Queenslanders the opportunity to experience their state orchestra live.
The regional touring schedule begins on June 26 with an Orchestral Adventures performance for primary school students at Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centre, followed on June 27 by the all-ages Symphony Under the Stars at Gladstone Marina Stage, presented by Australia Pacific LNG.
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QSO will stage similar events in Townsville on October 10 and Mackay on October 30.
QSO will also perform special one-off concerts in Cairns on September 24 and Charleville on November 6. From July 29 to August 1 it will continue its decade-long Chinchilla, Miles, Roma and Tara enrichment through music program, featuring workshops, school concerts and community in concert performances.
Sterzinger says the company’s regional residency model of touring has built enduring bonds with Queensland communities and fostered cultural vibrancy and arts accessibility. At its core, the model presents education opportunities for Queensland children, delivers health and wellbeing outcomes for regional communities and engages with Indigenous artists and cultures.
“QSO is committed to not only giving thousands of regional and remote Queenslanders a chance to hear live orchestral music but to enriching the communities in which we perform,” he says. “The incredible success of our regional touring program has demonstrated the vitality of investing in our state. We are grateful to the local councils, tourist organisations and our sponsors and partners for supporting our vision to be an orchestra for all Queenslanders.”
For Sterzinger, regional touring has been rewarding. He’s originally from a town in Bavaria, Germany, called Mellrichstadt.
“It’s a town of about three-and-a-half-thousand people,” he says. “So going to small towns in the regions feels very normal for me. I will be on most of the tours. It’s important for the CEO to be there and to show that we are the Queensland Symphony Orchestra covering the whole state.”
The regional program continues the QSO’s mission to be truly statewide. In 2024 the QSO reached more than 11,000 audience members across 18 regional towns including Port Douglas, Toowoomba and Charleville.
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More than 3290 students were engaged through 49 school concerts and 28 workshops and eight local students performed with QSO musicians. As Sterzinger points out, for many people it’s their first experience of an orchestra.
“And we are connected to these regional towns because we have a number of musicians in the QSO from these places,” he says.
Touring is logistically challenging.
“It’s a huge operation taking 55 musicians on tour,” Sterzinger says. “There are flights to book, accommodation to organise, there’s also the gear … the instruments, music stands and chairs. We have a team of people through a logistics provider that help with all that.”
When it all comes together it is magical and Sterzinger recalls beautiful moments with the orchestra playing to packed audiences for the Symphony Under the Stars series, which continues in Gladstone this week.
“It’s beautiful to be sitting there under the stars and sometimes you can hear the curlews singing,” he says. “One beautiful thing we often experience at these outdoor concerts is that the children get up and dance in front of the stage. It’s great that they feel comfortable to do that and it’s all part of the community building that this orchestra does.”
QSO chief conductor Umberto Clerici has curated unique concert repertoire for each event, whether it be a Symphony Under the Stars or starlight-themed indoor evening performance, from the graceful beauty of Maurice Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess in Mackay and Townsville to Beethoven’s electrifying Egmont Overture in Gladstone.
Similarly, each Orchestral Adventures offers a tailored gateway into classical music for primary school students, spanning classics from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky to movie masterpieces from Hans Zimmer.
“Music is an essential part of a community’s fabric and QSO’s commitment to regional tours and residencies extends an open invitation for everyone to experience and admire the joy of music without barriers,” Maestro Clerici says. “Our regional concerts are a wonderful celebration of community and music with a full orchestra performing repertoire that audiences will know and love, new pieces that will excite and captivate them and unfamiliar work that will move them.”
Maestro Clerici will share the baton with Sam Weller across the concert series.