Luminous

RICHARD TOGNETTI
Artistic Director and Lead Violin
BILL HENSON
Photographic Images
KATIE NOONAN
Voice

Program includes BRITTEN, CRUMB, PIAZZOLLA, JANÁCEK, SCHNITTKE, YARED, R.E.M and VASKS, with soundsculpture by PAUL HEALY

Luminous was one of the most breathtaking and talked-about concerts in the ACO’s history and one of Richard Tognetti’s favourite performances, the one that he most wanted to reprise to celebrate 20 years as leader of the ACO.

In this ground-breaking collaboration, music and images dance in a luminous ballet choreographed by acclaimed Australian artist Bill Henson. Projections of Henson’s painterly photographs – sublime dreamlike visions of nature and humanity – glow in the darkness of the concert hall mingling with the music of the ACO.

The burnished warmth of music for strings forms a luminous core to the program. The soft, otherworldly horizons of a Henson photograph become visual realisations of our desire to look beyond the ordinary in our music-making.

“Bill’s reaction to music is intuitive and primal and this is what interests me in his art. We wanted to find images that collided and danced with the music. The music doesn’t function as a support act, as it would in a movie. Instead, Bill has been invited as a choreographer, bringing to life our music in ways we couldn’t otherwise envision.” Richard Tognetti

[Audio clip: CRUMB 'God Music' from Black Angels]

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