Russell Crowe performing with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra? Or should that be the QSO accompanying Russell Crowe? Really? Yes, really … in a way.
Movie specials have been popular with audiences in recent years and if the punters like it, give them more. So in 2026 that includes Gladiator in Concert in August and How to Train Your Dragon in November.
Sitting chatting about season 2026 with QSO chief executive Michael Sterzinger I offer a lame impersonation of Crowe from that extraordinary scene in Gladiator when the Romans are facing off against the barbarians, the Germanic tribes. (I am mindful of the fact that Sterzinger is from Germany.)
“At my signal, unleash hell!” I say. “They were fighting your lot.” Then I refer to a famous battle in which the Germanic tribes defeated the Romans. “That was quite a battle.”
“Yes, I was there,” says Sterzinger, which confuses me since the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was in 9AD. In fact, Sterzinger is referring to the Hermannsdenkmal (Hermann Monument), a colossal statue of the Germanic leader Arminius (known as Hermann in German) located near Detmold, Germany.
Though built between 1838 and 1875, long after the battle of 9AD, it was constructed on a hill thought to be near the battle site at the time. Today, the statue is a popular tourist attraction that commemorates the Germanic victory over three Roman legions. Sterzinger has been to the site.
You might like
It’s a fascinating bit of history and the conflict between the Romans and those Germanic barbarians is part of the movie Gladiator. I mark August 8 in my 2026 calendar. It will be great to hear the music of Hans Zimmer (also German) played live by the QSO with the movie on a big screen at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Sterzinger draws my attention to the fact that the next movie concert is at BCEC on December 5 and 6 – Home Alone in Concert. “It’s a gorgeous film,” he says.
It’s a laugh out loud Christmas comedy starring Macaulay Culkin as young Kevin, the kid accidentally left behind by his parents. Oops. And then there is that brilliant score by John Williams. It demonstrates that the QSO is not snobbish about what it offers music lovers.
Mind you, it doesn’t baulk at intellectually and musically complex fare either. This week chief conductor Umberto Clerici is back from conducting overseas to wield the baton for Mahler Nine, the final symphony by Gustav Mahler. It’s on in the Concert Hall at QPAC this Friday and Saturday (November 28 and 29) and promises to be one of the concerts of the year.
“Mahler’s symphonies are an enormous party piece for audiences, the orchestra and the conductor because you must lead the orchestra through every bar, through changes of tempo and register, and the pace. Sometimes Mahler’s symphonies are angry and seconds later we are in this limbo of fragility,” Maestro Clerici says. “There are also the instruments themselves. Every one is featured in one his symphonies and at the maximum possibility.
“The 2025 season for Queensland Symphony Orchestra has been an exploration of spirituality and Mahler Nine is the closing gala of our year. In a way it is the pinnacle of this season and, in this case, it’s a farewell to life and all the joys and the sorrow that we can have in our lifetime.”
From Mahler to Home Alone is quite a change of pace. As Sterzinger points out, the orchestra is all things to all people and it’s very very busy.
Subscribe for updates
‘The QSO is a hard-working orchestra and quite often we have three or four projects per week’
“There are three pillars to what we do,” he says. “We do our own concerts, regional touring and then there’s the work we do with other companies. In 2026 that’s with Opera Queensland, Queensland Ballet and Opera Australia.
“The QSO is a hard-working orchestra and quite often we have three or four projects per week,” he says. “It keeps everyone flexible. We churn through so much music. It’s good for audiences. Sometimes they might not even know they are experiencing QSO, but we are still reaching them.”
One the things Sterzinger is particularly proud of is the opportunity to turn the spotlight on the orchestra’s musicians and to highlight new and emerging talent in a program shaped by the QSO team, including the director of artistic planning, Matthew Wood.
“Two special Portraits recitals over the Valentine’s Day weekend are built around the brilliance of QSO’s principal flute, Alison Mitchell, and the expressiveness of QSO’s principal harp, Emily Granger,” Sterzinger says.
Australian artists and composers were uppermost in mind when creating season 2026, which is bookended by the signature Maestro Series with Mahler’s emotive Symphony No. 5 and winds up with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. There are Sunday concerts, studio concerts and a special celebration of the The Music of John Williams, among other treats.
And the QSO will be hitting the road again, spending six weeks touring regionally.
“We sold out concerts in Mackay, Townsville and Cairns this year,” he says. “We had standing ovations. At our open-air concert in Gladstone, we had 3500 people. Just over 10 per cent of the town’s population came along. These are my happy places.”
One of the special events of 2026 will be, he says, unveiling an as yet untitled work by Atherton teenage composer Jonathan Platz, a participant in the 2025 QSO composer program. At just 17, he became the youngest composer to be commissioned by the QSO.
His new work will make its world premiere at an open-air concert at Munro Martin Parkland in Cairns and as part of the Music on Sundays’ Symphonic Stories concert at QPAC in August.
But wait, there’s more. So much more. And some how, in the middle of it all, Sterzinger will continue with his “side hustle”, playing the tuba with the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra.
“We rehearse on Wednesday nights, so if I get an invitation for something on a Wednesday the default answer is no.” So there. You’ve been told.