The Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s first full scale concert of 2022, Llewellyn One: Redemption, will carry a tremendous sense of occasion for a number of reasons.

It marks the Orchestra’s return to their spiritual home of Llewellyn Hall for the first time since CSO at the Cinema pre-lockdown in August 2021.

With the full Orchestra set to grace the stage, there will, however, be a notable omission with chief conductor and artistic director, Jessica Cottis, unable to conduct.

“We’re thrilled and very grateful to the wonderful conductor I’ve worked with before, Fabian Russell, who is stepping in at very last-minute notice,” Orchestra concertmaster, Kirsten Williams, told Canberra Daily.

“We’re all excited about this, but we’ll be missing Jessica.”

Redemption’s dynamic program features four iconic works from four visionary composers: Richard Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Australian composer Margaret Sutherland’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Bernard Herrmann’s Suite from Vertigo, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D major, op. 107 ‘Reformation’.

“This music is timeless and really uplifting, it’s quite tricky for the orchestra in parts, but very satisfying to play,” she said. “It’s an exciting program for us.

The performance of Concerto for Violin and Orchestra will feature returning guest artist Courtenay Cleary. Williams said it’s vital for the Orchestra to showcase iconic works from Australian composers like Sutherland.

“It’s very important we visit these works that haven’t been done so often,” she said. “It was first recorded in 1961 and has only been played two to three times since then, it’s an amazing concerto.”

Williams and the entire Orchestra are “really excited” to return in such a fashion after an extended break.

“There’s a loyalty there, a sense of family when we’re on stage with the audience, and a sense of occasion in the fact we’re all out of lockdown now and we can perform again,” she said.

“One can become a little bit lackadaisical about concerts, but when you haven’t been able to perform and have had something taken away from you that you didn’t expect, and it happened for all of us … that’s what’s unique about this, for the audiences as well, to come together again and experience this as a community.”

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Llewellyn One: Redemption will be performed at Llewellyn Hall, ANU, 13-14 April; cso.org.au/redemption