The Queensland Symphony Orchestra launched their 2015 Season by announcing a glittering line-up of world-class soloists including cellist Mischa Maisky, pianist Sergio Tiempo, conductor Simone Young and a phalanx of violinists: Sarah Chang, Maxim Vengerov, Pinchas Zuckerman and Shlomo Mintz – the latter being Australia’s first soloist in residence.

In a quirky piece of programming, Mintz will open the season playing Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in its standard 1905 revision while Vengerov will wind up 2015 playing the original version of the same work. Following a similar process with the Fifth Symphony earler this year, this represents another coup for Queensland as Sibelius’s first thoughts have only once been recorded and it has not been played live since the composer forbade performances over a hundred years ago.

Outgoing Chief Conductor Johannes Fritzsch will conduct Mintz’s first concerto performance, but the popular Israeli virtuoso will cement his relationship with Queenslanders by performing Mendelssohn’s popular concerto later in the year, as well as playing chamber music with QSO musicians and conducting workshops, masterclasses and talks. “Shlomo is passionate about music education,” says Sophie Galaise, the QSO’s Canadian Chief Executive, and the woman charged with finding the replacement for Fritzsch whose term is...