In October 2019, for the first time in almost 50 years, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra toured to the United States of America, showcasing Australia’s most established orchestra to new audiences in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Worcester (MA) and New York City.

The MSO was the first Australian orchestra to play at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1970. For our most recent tour, we returned to perform works by contemporary Australian composers, alongside orchestral classics. Pop up performances also took place at locations such as the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the Korean War Memorial. Orchestral workshops were delivered for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Neval Thomas Elementary School (Australian Embassy Adopted School) and Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts, and four diplomatic events reinforced the strong partnerships developed by the MSO with cultural, government and business sectors abroad.

The 2019 USA Tour was supported by the Pratt Foundation, Northern Trust, Australian Embassy Washington D.C., Australia Council for the Arts (Creative Australia), the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, Emirates, Lendlease Americas, and many generous individuals.