Richard Tognetti and the ACO, photo by Nic Walker.
Join the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) for an evening spanning five centuries of sublime music.
The ACO lives and breathes music, making waves around the world for its explosive performances that redefine orchestral music. With their fearless leader of 35 years, Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, the Orchestra celebrates 50 years of transformative music-making with a program showcasing why this orchestra is one of the most distinct, inventive and renowned ensembles on the world stage today.
A new work from John Luther Adams, commissioned by the ACO as part of a residency in Australia, sees the Orchestra literally transforming, changing shape on stage as the music asks you to see beyond the visible horizon to the true, limitless expanse before us. Richard Tognetti then evokes that sense of the sublime in Vaughan William’s The Lark Ascending, beloved by audiences everywhere.
The concert culminates in an arrangement for strings of Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor ”Death and the Maiden” with the thrilling energy and virtuosity of the ACO on full display.
“The Australian Chamber Orchestra is uniformly high-octane, arresting and never ordinary.” - The Australian
Artists
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Richard Tognetti, Director and Violin
Program
HENRY PURCELL - Fantazia upon One Note
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL - Concerto Grosso in A major, Op.6, No.11
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS - Horizon*
INTERMISSION
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (arr. Adam Johnson) - The Lark Ascending
FRANZ SCHUBERT (arr. Richard Tognetti) – String Quartet in D minor, D.810 ”Death and the Maiden”
* Commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra
About the Australian Chamber Orchestra
Australian Chamber Orchestra
“The Australian Chamber Orchestra is uniformly high-octane, arresting and never ordinary.”
The Australian.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra lives and breathes music, making waves around the world for its explosive performances that redefine orchestral music. With their fearless leader of 35 years, Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, in 2025 the Orchestra celebrates 50 years of invention, disruption and unforgettable music-making.
The ACO performs more than 100 concerts each year, with programs that embrace celebrated classics alongside new commissions and ground-breaking collaborations, working with artists and musicians who share their ideology: from Emmanuel Pahud, Steven Isserlis, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicolas Altstaedt and William Barton, to Jonny Greenwood, Neil Finn and Meow Meow; to visual artists and film makers such as Bill Henson, Shaun Tan, Jane Campion, and Jennifer Peedom, who co-create unique, hybrid productions for which the ACO has become renowned.
The ACO has its own streaming platform, ACO On Demand, which hosts the Orchestra’s award-winning cinematic concert films, ACO StudioCasts, alongside live concert streams. The Orchestra also has an active recording program. Its recordings of Bach’s violin works won three consecutive ARIA Awards. Recent releases include Water | Night Music, the first Australian-produced classical vinyl for two decades, Beethoven 1, 2, & 3 Eroica and ARIA award-winning albums River and Indies & Idols.
In 2022 the ACO opened a new, world class venue, ACO On The Pier, continuing their dedication to creating and presenting transformative experiences for all music lovers.