Touring to Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Newcastle.
“I left the ACO performance feeling like something had shifted in me. I had seen something that moved me and was beautiful – and somehow the world was not the same place it had been before I went into Hamer Hall.” – The Guardian
This August the ACO will embark on a thrilling adventure to Bohemia to perform the visceral, virtuosic and utterly exhilarating music of Antonín Dvořák and Béla Bartók.
The concert opens with Dvořák’s sublime Serenade for Strings, music that conjures the warm sun on your back and the lush forests of the Czech composer’s homeland. One of his most popular and joyful works, it is filled with sunny optimism and soaring melodies.
Hungarian composer Bartók is one of the most important composers of the 20th century and his String Quartet No.5, with its incredible spectrum of colours, rhythmic vitality and emotion, is one of the most challenging pieces of string music ever written. In a new arrangement for string orchestra by ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, this electrifying music will push the breathtaking virtuosity of the ACO to its very limits.
Bartók and Dvořák are in fine company with the magnetic music of Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award winning New York composer Caroline Shaw. Like Dvořák, a love of dance permeates her music, with her artistic collaborations ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Rosalía and her music appearing on the likes of Bombshell, Yellowjackets, and Beyonce’s Homecoming.
Surrender yourself to this unforgettable journey.
Reviews
★★★★ ½ ‘telepathic synchronicity and virtuosity’ - Limelight
★★★★ ‘ACO leader Richard Tognetti’s arrangement of the [Bartok] for string orchestra brought the arch-like structure of its five movements into strong relief, the outer movements standing out as pillars of conflicted, driving energy. The second and fourth movements drew the listener into hushed textures, creating still moments of spareness and quiet. It is welcome to see renewed interest in Bartok… Tognetti’s string orchestra arrangement brought out the work’s monumentality and uncompromising strength of idea.’ - Sydney Morning Herald
