It’s March already, and concert seasons throughout the country are now well under way. It feels somewhat strange for those of us who didn’t go out at all for nigh on two years to suddenly find ourselves at concerts several nights a week. For myself, this past month I have been to several chamber and vocal performances and concerts by the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Those interminable, desolate nights of Netflix and munchies now seem long ago.

In 2019, Sir Andrew Davis stepped down as the MSO’s Chief Conductor (now the MSO’s Conductor Laureate) after seven years at the helm. Now, the MSO is settling down with its new Chief Conductor. Jaime Martín was born in Spain in 1965 and based in London for many years, many of those as Principal Flute with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A week ago, he made his first official appearance as the MSO’s Chief Conductor in a gala concert that almost raised the roof.

Jaime Martín. Photo © Marc Mitchell

A week later, a program billed as Beethoven & Bartók announced that he...