ACO Collective

ACO Collective is our critically acclaimed regional touring and education ensemble, that combines Australia’s most talented emerging string players with the professional musicians of the ACO.

The high-energy 17-piece string orchestra is an ensemble of musicians from our Emerging Artist Program, Emerging Artist alumni and our core musicians. The ensemble is full of the energy, dynamism and artistry for which the ACO is renowned around the world.

History

ACO Collective commenced touring as ACO2 in 2007 and since then has performed in more than 80 regional centres in every state and territory, all of Australia’s state capitals, and has toured to Japan.

The Ensemble works regularly with guest artists of the highest calibre, both international and Australian, including violinists Elizabeth Wallfisch, Benjamin Schmid, Henning Kraggerud and Thomas Gould; cellist Daniel Müller-Schott; harpist Alice Giles; recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey; singer / songwriter Tim Freedman from The Whitlams; and oud player Joseph Tawadros. 

In 2013, the ACO presented the Ensemble in a national subscription tour led by Richard Tognetti and it was named by The Australian as “one of the year’s must-see concerts”. Biennially, the Ensemble is the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Vasse Felix Festival in Western Australia and in 2014 it was the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Canberra International Music Festival.

Upcoming Concerts

Serenades for Strings | 19 - 29 October

Helena Rathbone, Principal Violin and founding Director of ACO Collective, celebrates her 25th anniversary with the ACO in a program curated around works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

Book Tickets

Past Tours

ACO Collective commenced touring as ACO2 in 2007 and since then has performed in more than 80 regional centres in every state and territory, all of Australia’s state capitals, and has toured to Japan. The Ensemble works regularly with guest artists of the highest calibre, both international and Australian, including violinists Elizabeth Wallfisch, Benjamin Schmid, Henning Kraggerud and Thomas Gould; cellist Daniel Müller-Schott; harpist Alice Giles; recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey; singer / songwriter Tim Freedman from The Whitlams; and oud player Joseph Tawadros.

In 2013, the ACO presented the Ensemble in a national subscription tour led by Richard Tognetti and it was named by The Australian as “one of the year’s must-see concerts”. Biennially, the Ensemble is the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Vasse Felix Festival in Western Australia and in 2014 it was the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Canberra International Music Festival.