Alexander Briger’s new all-Australian orchestra welcomes back our top expat musicians.

This year the Sydney Opera House was host to the 2011 YouTube Symphony Orchestra, an inspiring initiative which flew musicians from all over the world to Sydney to meet one another and perform together as a fully-fledged orchestra. Now the Australian World Orchestra – headed by artistic director and chief conductor Alexander Briger – brings that same message of musical connectivity to a project close to his heart and dear to Australian musicians living locally and abroad.

Briger launched his all-Australian super-orchestra last year and has now announced its 2011 concert season, which features Peter Sculthorpe’s iconic Australian work Earth Cry alongside Beethoven, Wagner and Tchaikovsky. A first in the nation’s music-making history, the 90-piece ensemble draws together Australian players occupying top orchestral posts overseas as well as distinguished members of our state orchestras. The result, Briger predicts, will be a patriotic triumph at the highest level of virtuosity and musicianship.

A world-renowned conductor based in the UK, Briger aims to combat the dichotomy he has experienced firsthand of many Australian musicians believing they must first venture overseas in order to make a name for themselves back home, but coming...