Reception for the Australian Chamber Orchestra's 50th Anniversary
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC
Bujari gamarruwa
Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura
I welcome you to Government House in the language of the Gadigal, the Traditional Owners of the land where we gather in celebration of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s 50th season.
Everyone here tonight knows the ACO, knows each player, hears every note that this most magnificent Orchestra plays, feels every nuance of the music, fulfilling the Orchestra’s purpose, as Richard tells, of bringing “the listener in through its portal. A numinous moment when, hopefully, [they] can make time stand still.”[1]
In Richard’s terms, this has been the singular achievement of the Australian Chamber Orchestra over the past 50 years.
The ACO story commenced in 1975, with an ensemble of 32 musicians, in a year that was transformative for Australian music, bookended by the launch of the radio station Double J in January and the ACO’s inaugural concert held at the Sydney Opera House on the 21st November, with a program featuring two works of Haydn, and works of Bach and Bartok luxuriating in the acoustics of the Sydney Opera House, a far cry from the space the Orchestra had occupied on top of a shop in Kings Cross. And all of this while Australia was absorbing the impact of the constitutional crisis which had unfolded in Canberra 10 days earlier.
So far as is known, there were no reviews of that first performance, which featured 12 of the Orchestra’s musicians - or at least none that can be found. Fortunately, there is a photographic record.[2] The 70s hairstyles, the stylish black attire, the fact that 8 of the 12 musicians were women, and from a younger age group, signalled to the music world that this was very different Orchestra.
Amongst the performers that night was Alice Waten, who had studied with the Russian masters, and had been Richard Tognetti’s violin teacher at the Conservatorium High School. The two soloists - Robert Ingram and Guy Henderson - were members of the Orchestra, demonstrating from the outset that this was an orchestra which valued its own players.
Its musical daring was evident early, with its very first recording, a mere three years later, incorporating contemporary Australian works into its repertoire, including for that recording, works of Bartok and Haydn as well as Peter Sculthorpe.[3]
In 1990, Richard Tognetti, Alice Waten’s young protége, who had recently returned from studying at Bern Conservatory under celebrated violinist Igor Izim, became Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
As we know, the work of the Orchestra is prolific. Over its 50-year history, it has commissioned over 226 new works. There are its 180 memorable concerts performed each year to almost 103,000 ticketholders in concert halls here in the city, in the regions and around the world. Then, there is the over 15000 hours of music education in 2024 which includes 11,400 hours of ACO Foundation work, including its program at St Mary’s North Public School which has been a revolution not only in music education but in education. The academic uplift in this mostly lower socio-economic school has been remarkable. It has mentored over 380 young people and emerging musicians at the ACO On the Pier and around Australia. Not to mention, the 2022 and 2023 ARIA awards for ‘River’ and ‘Indies and Idols’.
There is much, much more to tell, but tonight we are here, not to listen to a history lesson, but to the exquisite sound of a Quartet of ACO Musicians, led by Richard Tognetti.
I’m sure we would all agree with Andrew Clements, reviewer in The Guardian, who wrote: “If there is a better chamber orchestra in the world, I haven’t heard it”.[4]
To Richard, the musicians, the Board, the other Richard - ACO’s CEO and the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s many patrons, friends and supporters, thank you for bringing us 50 years of sublime music, experimentation and innovation.
Please welcome Richard Tognetti, Helena Rathbone, Amanda Verner and Melissa Barnard ...
[1] https://www.aco.com.au/the-orchestra/musicians/richard-tognetti
[2] https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-152630229/view - and
[3] https://www.aco.com.au/news/2025-may/achieved-thanks-to-support
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/nov/28/australian-co-richard-tognetti-review