Australian Chamber Orchestra 2025 Season

In 2025 the world-renowned Australian Chamber Orchestra celebrates 50 years of pushing boundaries, igniting curiosity, transcending the ordinary and leading the way.

With Richard Tognetti at the helm, marking his 35th year as the ACO’s pioneering Artistic Director, ACO 2025 embodies the intrepid and collaborative spirit that has earned the Orchestra international acclaim and an adventurous and incredibly loyal national audience.

50 years in the making, the ACO’s 2025 Season pays homage to the past while embracing a bold and ambitious vision for the future. From classic masterworks to international stars making their Australian debut, join them in celebrating this milestone year and experience the thrill of the ACO like never before.

“I have always felt that the ACO has the most curious and engaged audiences in the world and as we approach our 50th anniversary year that is truer than ever”. Richard Tognetti

Upcoming events

Gershwin & Shostakovich

3 Aug 2025

Music is a powerful defence against darkness. Throughout history, composers have responded to adversity time and time again by creating music full of hope. Richard Tognetti directs this profound program that features Ukrainian-born, internationally renowned pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk making his ACO debut in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Shostakovich’s witty, irreverent Piano Concerto No.1 with David Elton on trumpet.

  • Classical Music
  • Australian Chamber Orchestra

A Musical Awakening

21 Sep 2025

Music is visceral and vital. In A Musical Awakening, we invite you to take a breath and lean into this program designed to nourish your soul. Directed by ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve, the Orchestra will be joined by friend and recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey, whose mastery of this most elemental of instruments is unsurpassed.

  • Classical Music
  • Australian Chamber Orchestra

Special Gala: Mountain

28 Oct 2025

After more than a decade of producing films, Mountain premiered in 2017 as one of our 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.

  • Classical Music
  • Australian Chamber Orchestra

Cocteau’s Circle

9 Nov 2025

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. Richard Tognetti directs the Australian Chamber Orchestra as they dive into an era of innovation and wonder, featuring renowned Australian soprano Alexandra Oomens.

  • Classical Music
  • Australian Chamber Orchestra