Founded in 1975, the Australian Chamber Orchestra has built an international reputation for its artistic excellence and adventurous programming. Unmatched in its provocative expansion of the chamber orchestra repertoire, the ACO’s stylistic versatility allows it to perform on modern or period instruments, as a small chamber group, as a small symphony orchestra and as an electro-acoustic ensemble.

The ACO’s Artistic Director and Leader Richard Tognetti assumed his position in 1989. The appointment of this talented Australian violinist opened up an exciting chapter in the ACO’s artistic history. Under his leadership the ACO has worked with celebrated soloists such as Stephen Hough, Lorraine Hunt, Yvonne Kenny, Steven Isserlis, Christian Lindberg, Barry Tuckwell, John Williams, Pieter Wispelwey, Pekka Kuusisto and Imogen Cooper, as well as with Angela Hewitt.

The ACO’s national concert season – over eighty performances every year in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney and Wollongong, as well as regular regional tours – gives it the largest subscription audience base for a chamber orchestra in the world. Regular international tours to Asia, Europe and the USA have drawn outstanding reviews for its performances at many of the world’s prestigious concert halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Vienna’s Musikverein, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Washington DC’s Kennedy Center.

On its European Tour in May 1999, The Times of London declared: ‘This must be the best chamber orchestra on Earth.’