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A piece of graphic art by Rich Nosworthy, created in response to 'La Folia'.

Baroque Brilliance

Baroque Brilliance
27 Aug - 11 Sep 2020
These performances have been suspended due to the outbreak of COVID-19. If you are a current ticket holder, please click here to review your options to donate your tickets, or to receive a credit or refund. 
Baroque director Jonathan Cohen makes his Australian debut with the dazzling music of Bach, Vivaldi, Geminiani and Handel.

Cohen is renowned for his role as Artistic Director with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Arcangelo and Les Violons du Roy. He directs the Australian Chamber Orchestra through a virtuosic and evocative program of baroque music built around the oldest known musical theme of European culture: La Folia.

Baroque favourites including JS Bach’s The Art of Fugue and Vivaldi’s Concerto for Strings in G minor will be performed alongside lesser-known gems, such as the harmonically gifted Francesca Caccini’s Ciaccona. The ACO will also perform the world premiere of Australian composer Paul Stanhope’s Giving Ground, a new take on the La Folia theme, before Geminiani’s own famed La Folia variations, the Concerto Grosso in D minor.

Program Details

LOCATELLI – Concerto grosso in E-flat major “Il pianto d’Arianna”
15:00
JS BACH – The Art of Fugue: Contrapunctus 8
5:00
HANDEL – Concerto Grosso in A minor
10:00
MOZART – Fugue in E-flat major (after Bach’s BWV876)
2:00
VIVALDI – Concerto for Strings in G minor, RV156
6:00
JS BACH – Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes: Sinfonia
3:00
CPE BACH – Cello Concerto in A major
19:00
FRANCESCA CACCINI – Ciaccona
5:00
PAUL STANHOPE – Giving Ground – World Premiere*
5:00
GEMINIANI – Concerto Grosso in D minor “La Folia”
11:00
*Co-commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale
CONCERT duration
101 min (incl interval)
Playlist by the ACO
Baroque Brilliance
Join us 45 minutes before the performance to learn about the concert from a music expert. Speakers will be announced prior to the first concert date.

Thu 27 Aug, 6:45pm


Sat 29 Aug, 6:45pm


Sun 30 Aug, 12:45pm


Mon 31 Aug, 6:45pm


Tue 1 Sep, 6:45pm


Wed 2 Sep, 6:45pm


Sat 5 Sep, 6:15pm


Tue 8 Sep, 7:15pm


Wed 9 Sep, 6:15pm


Fri 11 Sep, 12:45pm


Mon 7 Sep, 6:15pm


Creative Response

Artist Rich Nosworthy's creative response to Geminiani’s La Folia, created in collaboration with ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve.

Collaboration and experimentation lie at the heart of everything we do here at the ACO. To celebrate this milestone year where we mark Richard Tognetti’s 30th year as Artistic Director, we commissioned a series of short films inspired by our musicians and the music in our season. Each film was created by a leading 3D digital animation artist with insights and guidance from one of our musicians. These sound and motion experiments utilise the latest technology to communicate humanity, emotion and the often visceral response we have to music.

Watch All Responses

Artists

Guest Director Jonathan Cohen

Jonathan Cohen

Guest Director & Keyboard

Jonathan Cohen has forged a remarkable career as a conductor, cellist and keyboardist. Well known for his passion and commitment to chamber music, Jonathan is equally at home in such diverse activities as baroque opera and the classical symphonic repertoire. He is Artistic Director of Arcangelo, Music Director of Les Violons du Roy, Artistic Director of Tetbury Festival and Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
ACO Principal Violin Helena Rathbone

Helena Rathbone

Director & Violin

Helena Rathbone has performed as Principal Violin with the ACO since 1994, and regularly performs with the Orchestra as a soloist and guest leader. In addition, Helena is the Orchestra Representative and Mentor for the ACO’s Emerging Artists Program and Director of ACO Collective.
Tipi

Timo-Veikko Valve

Cello

Timo-Veikko ‘Tipi’ Valve was appointed Principal Cello of the ACO in 2006. He is regarded as one of the most versatile musicians of his generation performing as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader on both modern and period instruments, and regularly performs as a soloist with the ACO.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra on stage

Australian Chamber Orchestra

The Australian Chamber Orchestra travels a remarkable road. Making waves across Australia and around the world for its explosive performances and brave interpretations, the ACO embraces celebrated classics alongside new commissions, and adventurous cross-artform collaborations.

Composers

Composer JS Bach

JS Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer who enriched and perfected the Baroque style. A prolific composer of instrumental music and sacred vocal music, his works have had an enduring impact on western culture. In his time, Bach was renowned as an organist, able to improvise fugues with ease. To many, Bach is the greatest composer to have ever lived.
Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer who remains one of music’s most influential and enduringly popular figures. A child prodigy, he composed from the age of five, and performed for European royalty. In his short lifetime, he composed more than 600 works, many of which are acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concerto, chamber, operatic and choral music.
Composer Locatelli

Pietro Locatelli

Pietro Locatelli was an Italian virtuoso violinist and composer who had a profound and lasting impact on violin technique. His violin concertos are the Baroque equivalent of a Paganini concerto, combining jaw dropping violin techniques with Italian style and flamboyance.

Composer Geminiani

Francesco Geminiani

Francesco Geminiani was an Italian composer and violinist who was, in his day, deemed an equal of Handel and Corelli (his teacher). He is most famous for his three sets of Concerti Grossi, and his treatise The Art of Playing the Violin, which is the best-known summation of Baroque violin technique.

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer and virtuoso violinist who is best known for his colourful, flamboyant violin concertos, the most famous of which are The Four Seasons. He composed hundreds of concertos, more than 40 operas and sacred choral works, and was a teacher at the Ospedale della Pietà for young girls, which many of his works were written for.

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