History
ACO Collective commenced touring as ACO2 in 2007. Since then, ACO Collective has performed in more than 85 regional centres in every state and territory, all of Australia’s state capitals, and has toured to Japan. The ensemble works with guest artists of the highest calibre, both international and Australian, including violinists Pekka Kuusisto (ACO Collective Artistic Director from 2016–2019), Matthew Truscott, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Benjamin Schmid, Henning Kraggerud, Malin Broman, Alexander Sitkovetsky and Thomas Gould; cellist Daniel Müller-Schott; the Meta4 quartet; classical accordionist James Crabb; harpist Alice Giles; recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey; singer/songwriter Tim Freedman; clarinetist Matthew Hunt; oud player Joseph Tawadros and the Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir.
In 2013, the ACO presented ACO Collective in a national subscription tour led by Richard Tognetti which was named by The Australian as “one of the year’s must-see concerts”. Biennially, ACO Collective 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. In 2015 ACO Collective performed with the Sydney Dance Company and Katie Noonan in the SDC’s season of Triptych and gave the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s violin concerto Shrink with Pekka Kuusisto at Melbourne Recital Centre in 2019.
Under the direction of ACO Principal Violin Helena Rathbone, ACO Collective recorded the ABC Classic album Collective Wisdom for the Hush Foundation in 2018. Bringing together the artistry of six of Australia’s most established composers and six emerging composers in an ambitious project that engaged with adolescent patients at children’s hospitals around Australia, this beautiful album features 12 original Australian works written for hospitals, homes and shared spaces across the globe.
