2pm • Sunday 25 October 2026
Last Words brings together three of the most ambitious works in the orchestral and choral repertoire and places them in the hands of the next generation of Australian musicians. Join us in the QPAC Concert Hall as The University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra (UQSO), conducted by the Kinnane Professor of Music, Paul Dean, takes on some of the greatest music ever written.
The program opens with the Adagio from Mahler's unfinished Symphony No. 10, the only movement he completed in full. Vast in scale yet intensely personal, it sits somewhere between a love letter and a farewell, building to a shattering dissonant climax before retreating into stillness.
From there the UQSO turns to Bruckner's Te Deum, a blazing affirmation of faith that the composer valued so highly he suggested it might serve as the finale to his own unfinished Ninth Symphony. Here the orchestra is joined by the UQ Chorale (directed by Dr Graeme Morton), the UQ Singers (directed by Dr Shaun Brown) and outstanding UQ student soloists, turning private reflection into full-throated exultation.
The program closes with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique', his last completed symphony, finished only months before his death. It traverses restless turbulence only to arrive at one of the quietest, most desolate endings ever written.
Join The University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Paul Dean to explore Last Words; the final statements of three men who wrote a world away and more than a century ago, all of them confronting their own mortality late in life, interpreted anew by young musicians at the very start of their own careers.
Pre-concert talk
A pre-concert talk will be held from 1–1:30pm inside the Concert Hall, prior to the performance. All are welcome to attend.
Tickets
$40 adult / $30 concession / $20 students/children (full time student and children)*
Concert Hall, Performance Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), South Bank
2 hours (with interval)
*a transaction fee of $7.50 applies per transaction.
Paul Dean
Conductor
Clarinettist Paul Dean is widely regarded as one of Australia's foremost musicians in his multiple capacities as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, composer and Artistic Director. He is currently the Kinnane Professor of Music at The University of Queensland, co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Q with the cellist, Trish Dean. He was a founding member and Artistic Director of Southern Cross Soloists and the Bangalow Music Festival, before his appointment as Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne. As a composer Paul has won the coveted Paul Lowin Prize in 2022 for his Symphony No 1 ‘Black Summer’ and an APRA 2023 Award for his Double Bass Concerto. He has been engaged as Composer in Residence for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and has been commissioned to write works for major artists and orchestras including the Australian World Orchestra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Queensland Youth Symphony, and for major international artists including Jack Liebeck, Michael Collins and Torlief Thedeen.
