The history of the 4mbs festival of classics

Since first launching in 1994, the 4MBS Festival of Classics has become the largest classical music festival of its kind in Australasia, celebrating the classics and honouring the anniversaries of great classical composers.

See below for highlights of our recent festivals!

2016

2015
22 May - 1 June
Great Russian Masters

Some of the greatest classical music ever known has come from Russia - think of composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Stravinsky to name a few!

​The 2016 festival celebrated the wonderful music from this northern country in events including an all-day KAWAI PIANO MARATHON, and a concert series called RUSSIAN ROMANCE by the Gold Coast Symphony Orchestra, performed in venues from Cleveland to Coorparoo to Coolum. The Brisbane Chorale and the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra also performed a beautiful concert titled THE BELLS. 
1 - 31 May
The Glory of Vienna
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The 2015 festival celebrated the 150th anniversary of the opening of Vienna’s acclaimed cultural heart, the Ringstrasse. It featured concerts of composers who lived and worked in Vienna during that time - Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Bruckner and Strauss.

Opening concert THE GLORY OF VIENNA filled the Cathedral of St Stephen with a rousing version of the Blue Danube while another highlight, the KAWAI BEETHOVEN MARATHON  saw performances of five great Beethoven symphonies in the "piano 4 hands" style in the Queensland Conservatorium.
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2014

2013
3 May – 1 June
 Richard Strauss, Vivaldi, Chopin
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2014 saw the festival celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss, the 80th anniversary of the death of Edward Elgar, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik. 

Highlights were a powerful performance of Elgar's THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS in Brisbane City Hall, a VIVALDI SPECTACULAR in the glorious St John's Cathedral, plus a CHOPIN MARATHON with the Polish composer's piano works played back-to-back for a full day in the Queensland Conservatorium. 
4 May – 2 June
20th Anniversary
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In 2013 the festival celebrated its 20th year, with a grand performance of Carl Orff's twentieth century choral classic CARMINA BURANA, a BEETHOVEN PIANO MARATHON with performances of 20 of his works all in one day, and a performance of the VERDI REQUIEM starring internationally renowned Brisbane singers Rosario La Spina, Jacqueline Mabardi, Georgia Hawes and David Wakeham.