Nicolas Altstaedt

Touring to Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra. 
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★★★★★ “Enthusiastically executed… equal measures of rapture and fearlessness.” – The Age on Altstaedt Plays Haydn and Tchaikovsky, 2024

“Altstaedt has technique to burn, near perfect intonation, superb control of extreme registers and harmonics… so impeccable is rhythmic nuance, that one hung on every note as if they were the words of a master storyteller.” – The Australian

In the hands of Nicolas Altstaedt music is alive and centuries of tradition collapse into a single moment of profound clarity. Altstaedt is one of the world’s most exhilarating musicians, and his boldness, emotional depth and fierce musicality find a natural partner in the ACO, an ensemble that shares his curiosity and delight in the act of music-making.

This program sweeps from the Baroque to the present, yet in the hands of Altstaedt and the ACO it is one statement. At its heart is CPE Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major, a virtuosic showstopper of vivid emotion, sharp contrasts and unexpected turns of rhythm. The concert culminates in a string orchestra arrangement of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op.135, his final complete work and a piece of monumental foresight that holds the future of music within it.

Altstaedt and the ACO are master storytellers, unwavering in their pursuit of musical grace and adventure. They hold the future and the past in equal measure. Here they celebrate composers who pushed the limits of their time, and reached for something beyond it.

Program
Felix Mendelssohn String Symphony No.4 in C minor
Giacinto Scelsi Chukrum: I.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Cello Concerto in A major, Wq.172
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K.546
György Kurtág (arr. strings) Ligatura – Message to Frances-Marie (The Answered Unanswered Question), Op.31b
Ludwig van Beethoven (arr. strings) String Quartet in F major, Op.13

Artists
Nicolas Altstaedt Guest Director & Cello
Australian Chamber Orchestra

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Information for Families: This concert is recommended for children ages eight and above, or for younger children who can happily sit through a two-hour concert. For babies or young children who would find this challenging (understandably!) we have full-length concerts available on our YouTube channel, or for those in Sydney, a great range of family-friendly shows at ACO On The Pier specifically created to engage, educate and delight younger children.