As 2026 unfolds, the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) invites audiences to a series of enchanting performances that traverse musical genres and centuries. From Rachmaninoff's romantic rhapsodies to Beethoven's pastoral symphonies, the ACO embraces both classical staples and contemporary innovations. Highlights include Dejan Lazić's interpretation of Rachmaninoff, the TarraWarra Festival's artistic showcase, and the vibrant 'Isles of Light' program featuring British virtuoso Lawrence Power. Join us as we delve into the rich tapestry of events that promise an unforgettable musical journey.

A Year of Musical Mastery: The Australian Chamber Orchestra's 2026 Season

The Australian Chamber Orchestra's 2026 season is set to offer an extraordinary journey through time and sound. From the fiendishly demanding 'Devil's Violin' to the tranquil 'From Winter’s Stillness', this season promises an array of concerts that highlight both classic and contemporary masterpieces. With performances spanning from the dramatic compositions of Tartini and Mozart to the serene landscapes evoked by Nordic influences, each event showcases the unique talents of its performers and directors, including the likes of Richard Tognetti and Pekka Kuusisto.

Australian Chamber Orchestra's 2026 Season: A Journey Through Timeless Musical Landscapes

The devil played the violin for Tartini in a dream. The music was charismatic, electrifying, fiendishly difficult and utterly transfixing. Tartini awoke and transcribed the melody, penning the Devil’s Trill sonata. It can only be played by someone astounding.

The Devil’s Violin

ACO On The Pier

Our annual festival at the TarraWarra Museum of Art will feature performances from Richard Tognetti and the ACO in the Eva and Marc Besen Centre.

TarraWarra Festival

TarraWarra Museum of Art

When Rachmaninoff first performed his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, it had the audience in raptures. The extraordinary pianist had written a showstopper, and audiences have loved its lush, romantic melodies for nearly 100 years. Now, the ever-adventurous pianist Dejan Lazić returns to the ACO to play it, in a new arrangement for piano and strings.

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody

Deck the halls and celebrate the magic of Christmas with our brand-new family concert at our stunning harbourside home, ACO On The Pier. Featuring ACO Families musicians alongside the enchanting voices of Luminescence Chamber Singers, Carols On The Pier combines the timeless joy of Christmas carols with the beauty of world-class classical music.

ACO Families: Carols on the Pier

Drawing inspiration from a childhood obsession listening to the improvisations of legendary clarinettist Benny Goodman, Nigel Westlake’s Rare Sugar unleashes the clarinet’s joyful quality, with whimsical character, surprising virtuosity and a delightful blend of classical and jazz influences.

Omega Ensemble: Rare Sugar

ACO Principal cellist Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve directs AYO Momentum Ensemble in a program that masterfully intertwines his Finnish heritage and Australian experience. Jaakko Kuusisto’s Wiima evokes the nostalgic charm of Sysmä, a Finnish town dear to Tipi’s childhood, while Crystalline, by the Australian composer Olivia Bettina Davies, shimmers with delicate textures.

ACO Up Close: Timo-Veikko Valve & AYO Momentum Ensemble

Le Gateau Chocolat makes his ACO On The Pier debut in Raw Cacao, an exploration of intimacy and an invitation into the most hallowed of spaces; the chamber where one transitions from performer to person. Who are we when no one is watching?

ACO Up Close: Le Gateau Chocolat in Raw Cacao

The Freedman Fellowship is a prestigious, career-defining opportunity that recognises and supports the next generation of leading jazz musicians.

Freedman Jazz 25

Seckou Keita is a renowned Kora virtuoso who stands as a luminary amongst African traditional musicians. Hailing from Southern Senegal, his journey from a gifted child to a globally recognised musician has been nothing short of remarkable. Dubbed as "the Hendrix of the Kora'', Seckou's innovative approach and exceptional skill constantly pushes the boundaries of what the instrument can achieve. With a discography boasting 15 critically-acclaimed albums cumulating over 25 million streams on Spotify alone, and a collection of prestigious awards, including multiple BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Seckou Keita has left an indelible mark on the music scene. He is a regular a regular at international festivals including Glastonbury, the BBC Proms and WOMAD.

Seckou Keita: The Hendrix of the Kora

On the 21 November 1975, a group of pioneering musicians walked out onto the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall stage and the Australian Chamber Orchestra was born. Founded by the legendary Australian cellist John Painter, these musicians were driven by a shared mission to take control of their musical destinies: to become the country’s first truly national orchestra with an uncompromising commitment to elite performance, to represent Australia on the world stage, and provide opportunities to the country’s brightest young string players.

Celebrating the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Sydney Opera House

Compiled in 1721, and presented to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt in Berlin, the six Brandenburg Concertos were written for a diverse, demanding and sometimes daring combination of instruments and represent some of the most jubilant and joyful music of the 18th century. Not discovered until 100 years after Bach’s death, the works are now widely regarded as masterpieces in Western music and human civilisation, so much so that in 1977, the second concerto was sent into space on the Voyager Golden Record as a supreme example of human achievement.

Bach Akademie Australia: The Complete Brandenburg Concertos

Step into the intimate, dreamy light of Le Boeuf sur le toit, the legendary cabaret bar of 1920s Paris. The liquor is strong and spirits are high. War is over and art is flourishing. Here, Europe’s most fashionable mingle with the city’s greatest minds: Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein… And you’re invited to join their circle.

EPSG:4326

Cocteau’s Circle

Adelaide Town Hall

Melbourne Recital Centre

Queensland Performing Arts Centre

The Australian National University

Arts Centre Melbourne

City Recital Hall

Fresh from a sold-out European tour, Derrick Gee brings his unique brand of music entertainment home to Sydney.

Derrick Gee's Radio Hour

Join us for a truly unique musical event as the Australian Chamber Orchestra partners with Club Weld - a groundbreaking music program for neurodiverse artists - to present an evening of bold and inclusive creativity.

ACO X CLUB Weld

After more than a decade of producing films, the ACO premiered Mountain in 2017 as one of its boldest explorations of music and nature. Only three centuries ago, the idea scarcely existed that wild landscapes might hold any sort of attraction. Mountains were places of peril, not beauty. An upper world to be shunned, not sought out. Now they hold us spellbound, drawing us into their dominion, often at the cost of our lives.

Mountain

We are thrilled to be collaborating with our friends at Pinchgut Opera for this Baroque celebration led by Erin Helyard, featuring star soprano Samantha Clarke.

ACO Up Close: Baroque Resonance with ACO & Pinchgut Opera

Since the release of their recorded trilogy of Paul Stanhope’s quartets, the ASQ has proudly championed this beloved Australian composer, whose first string quartet, Elegies and Dances, bristles with rhythmic vitality.

Australian String Quartet: Convergence

For nearly four decades, Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Pérez has stood at the forefront of contemporary jazz, celebrated for his boundless imagination and profound artistry.

ACO Up Close: Danilo Pérez

One of the world’s most dynamic chamber ensembles, the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) bring their energetic virtuosity to repertoire old and new and play with a visible sense of shared communication with each other and their audience. The group’s performance in Bing Concert Hall features a new commissioned work for electric violin and strings by composer and Stanford alum Samuel Adams.

Australian Chamber Orchestra

Stanford University

The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) is one of the world’s most dynamic chamber ensembles, renowned for their explosive virtuosity, adventurous collaborations and intense connection with each other and their audience. The orchestra's ACO Up Close brings an intimate, surprising, and shape-shifting performance to the Bing Studio that blurs the boundaries between classical and contemporary music in true ACO style.
In this concert an ACO string quartet will perform music from across the centuries, ranging from Bach, Schubert and Fanny Mendelssohn to the groundbreaking modernism of Stravinsky and Webern and contemporary music by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) and Australian composers Brett Dean and Peter Sculthorpe. It’s a fitting program from an ensemble that has always forged its own path.

ACO Up Close

Schubert composed like an oil painter, drawing from a rich palette of melodic and harmonic colours. With a divine lyricism at its heart, his music is imbued with an intimacy and intensity that taps into the full range of human emotion.

Schubert’s Fantasy & Octet

ACO Principal Violin Satu Vänskä directs ACO Collective in a program of music close to the Orchestra’s heart, including Arvo Pärt’s captivating Fratres and Brahms’ epic Sextet in G major arranged for string orchestra.

ACO Collective: Bach, Brahms & Pärt

Berninneit

Orange Regional Museum

Riverlinks Eastbank

Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre

Lighthouse Theatre Warrnambool

The British Isles boast a magnificent anthology of music grounded in lush, poetic landscapes and thriving cities. This concert will transport you there. British violin and viola virtuoso Lawrence Power makes his ACO debut directing music from Thomas Tallis’ evocative theme - made famous by Vaughan Williams - to the genre-defying exuberance of Kate Bush.

Isles of Light

From the cold, clear quiet of a wintery morning, comes the music of an ancient landscape: the snow-strewn mountains and shores along the Baltic and Nordic seas. Richard Tognetti directs this extraordinary collaboration between the international vocal phenomenon Trio Mediæval, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen and the ACO.

From Winter’s Stillness

The late symphonies of Mozart are a touchstone for extraordinary musicians and experiencing the ACO perform them is an unforgettable experience. Richard Tognetti played the last three symphonies in his first year as Artistic Director of the ACO, and he returns to them often because they are works that only grow with each interpretation.

Mozart’s Last Symphonies

Pekka Kuusisto returns to the ACO after nearly a decade to direct music from four prodigious talents. Kuusisto is an artist unbound by convention, who embodies an artistic freedom that is unexpected and thrilling. As a renowned virtuoso and boundary-crossing composer, he pushes the limits of performance into exciting new realms, championing contemporary music with an openness and warmth that captivates audiences.

Pekka Kuusisto: Legends & Luminaries

To see Richard Tognetti and the ACO perform Beethoven is to experience a ‘magnificent unanimity’* of vision, drama and expressive force. In this majestic and uplifting finale to our 2026 National Concert Season, Richard and an expanded ACO perform an all-Beethoven program that takes audiences on a journey through creation and wonder, beginning with the dramatic Coriolan Overture before culminating in the master craftsman’s Pastoral Symphony.

Beethoven’s Pastoral

A performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is a transformative experience. Sublime choral and orchestral magic culminate in a feast for the senses. Bach wrote his Christmas cantatas to be performed on six different days. Here, you will immerse yourself in his masterpiece over one night.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio

Internationally-acclaimed British violinist Anthony Marwood directs ACO Collective across three chamber music-filled concerts at Vasse Felix winery in Margaret River as part of their annual cultural weekend festival.

Australian Chamber Orchestra

12 - 28 Mar, 2026

The Devil’s Violin

14 - 30 May, 2026

Schubert’s Fantasy & Octet

19 - 29 May, 2026

ACO Collective: Bach, Brahms & Pärt

13 - 23 Jun, 2026

Isles of Light

Jul 25 - Aug 9, 2026

From Winter’s Stillness

12 - 28 Mar, 2026

The Devil’s Violin

Feb 28 - Mar 1, 2026

TarraWarra Festival

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