The Australian Chamber Orchestra has announced its 2026 National Concert Season. Steeped in a rich musical tradition while simultaneously challenging expectations of what a chamber orchestra can be and do, the ACO’s 2026 Season spans a millennium of music, from the ancient hymns of the frozen North to the majestic symphonies of the 18th and 19th centuries, right through to trailblazing new works from today’s most innovative composers.
Defined by an irrepressible sense of adventure and curiosity combined with the highest possible artistic standards, the ACO is led by its pioneering Artistic Director Richard Tognetti and is comprised of 17 exceptional string musicians who hail from across the globe.
“There comes a point – somewhere past the age of 23 – when you stop trying to outrun time. Instead, you start listening to it, noticing how it bends and blurs in memory, how it sharpens in stillness,” said Artistic Director Richard Tognetti . Music has always been a way to hold onto time, or at least to touch it differently.”
“This season, we travel through music that doesn’t simply mark time, it questions it. Pieces that remind us of what music has always done best: to hold a moment just long enough to feel outside of time. So welcome to a season where time bends, breath holds, and music remembers what the clock forgets.”
In 2026, Tognetti pays homage to some of the most monumental and influential music ever written, that will see the ACO swell in size for epic performances of orchestral blockbusters including Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Mozart’s Last Symphonies and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
The ACO will also perform new music that expands the chamber music form, with world premieres including a new work by Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and Pulitzer Prize-winning US composer John Luther Adams’s expansive new work Horizon, alongside Australian premieres including Ellen Reid’s West Coast Sky Eternal and Raminta Šerkšnytė’s De Profundis.
In what promises to be a highlight of the ACO’s 2026 Season, the international phenomenon Trio Mediæval, comprised of vocalists Anna Maria Friman, Ditte Marie Bræin and Jorunn Lovise Husan, will make its ACO debut in a soul-stirring concert directed by Tognetti that evokes ancient landscapes and Northern light. Centuries-old hymns are paired with the quiet joy of Sigur Rós for a concert that will stay with audiences long after they have left the concert hall.
The 2026 Season also sees the return of cherished friends and collaborators including Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, a singular artist unbound by convention who returns to guest direct the ACO for the first time in nearly a decade, while virtuoso Ilya Gringolts reunites with the Orchestra in a daredevil program that pushes the violin to its fiery limits.
In 2026 Tognetti and the ACO return to beloved heartland repertoire in Mozart’s Last Symphonies, a joy-infused celebration of the composer’s final three symphonies that will see the ACO expand in size.
First performed by the ACO in 1990, in what marked Tognetti’s first year as Artistic Director of the Orchestra, the late symphonies of Mozart are a touchstone for the ACO, and to experience this performance is to witness “one of the greatest chamber orchestras in the world at its most joyous and inspirational” (The Guardian UK).
The 2026 Season will come to a glorious close as Tognetti picks up the baton for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. With three ARIA wins for his recordings of Bach’s music, Tognetti’s affinity for the composer is famous and the ACO’s last performance of this work, nine years ago, left critics and audiences astounded. Performed in collaboration with The Song Company, this celebration of Bach’s choral masterpiece promises to be a transformative feast for the senses.
For more information about the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s 2026 Season, visit: www.aco.com.au for details.
Image: Artistic Director Richard Tognetti with Artists of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (supplied)