Australian Chamber Orchestra News

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Barry Humphries, Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson in concert with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

When the Australian Chamber Orchestra plays in unison, it sounds like what it is: a lot of instruments playing together. Not for this group the polish, or masquerade, of many voices sounding as one. Instead, you get many voices sounding like many: an energetic chorus, with a slight burr and warmth, conveying a visceral thrill every time they plunge together into a work after the downbeat from its violinist-leader, Richard Tognetti.

Indeed, the ACO, which on Tuesday opened the season of the Kennedy Center's Fortas Chamber Music Concerts, offers some of the energy and vibe of a rock band with the ability of a crack classical chamber group. Its freshness is remarkable. The young players all perform standing (except, of course, for the cellists), which seems to allow a greater physical connection to the music -- although it's hard to imagine that even seating this bunch would do much to rein them in. To look at the ensemble, you would never suspect it had been formed in 1975; Tognetti, himself a youthful-seeming elder statesman, took over as artistic director in 1990 at the age of 25, and appears to be the oldest person onstage.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra came to the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater last night, as the season opener of the Fortas Chamber Music Series.

Australian Chamber Orchestra. Director and violin: Anthony Marwood. City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney, September 5. Sydney, tonight and tomorrow; Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong, Thursday; Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, Saturday; the Arts Centre, Melbourne, September 13 and 14; Adelaide Town Hall, September 15; Perth Concert Hall, ...

RICHARD Tognetti insists the Australian Chamber Orchestra is extending itself artistically after the company recorded a healthy $1.27 million operating surplus lastyear.

JONNY Greenwood is on a lunch break, eating soup. The guitarist has just stepped out of the studio in Oxford where his band, Radiohead, is rehearsing for a series of festival shows in Europe.

Australian Chamber Orchestra. Richard Tognetti: artistic director and lead violin.

Australian Chamber Orchestra. Richard Tognetti: artistic director and lead violin.

After a vocal campaign to save Wollongong Town Hall from the wrecking ball, not one member of the community had anything to say about the $5.4 million plan to save the historic building.