It’s in the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ethos to tour, bringing its energetic music-making and passion for bringing the best live experiences to audiences to venues all over Australia – and all over the world.
The Orchestra has been in the United States, performing for diverse halls and audiences as it visits Rohnert Park, near San Francisco in California, Carmel in Indiana, Stowe in beautiful mountainous Vermont, Storrs in Connecticut, Boston for a sold-out Massachusetts show, and venues in and around New York.
The ACO has a long history of touring to the United States, playing in the past at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Café Carlyle and Tanglewood.
And we have loved being back. Here are some snapshots from the trip.
San Francisco & Rohnert Park
We performed to an enthusiastic crowd in Ronhert Park, a city outside San Franscisco, and enjoyed some sight-seeing in San Fran either side of the concert.
Carmel, Indiana
Next stop was the small city of Carmel, a place where we enjoyed the audiences and hospitality of the beautiful Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts, where we were thrilled by the reception of the enthusiastic audiences.
Stowe, Vermont
In Vermont we saw snow – lots of snow – and were surrounded by stunning mountains, deep red autumn leaves, and impossibly vivid bright greens of the countryside, when we performed at Spruce Peak Arts Centre.
Next stop: Storrs in Connecticut!
Storrs, Connecticut
ACO Violin Liisa Pallandi, playing the viola for this tour, wraps up from the cold during the Orchestra's bus ride to Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Connecticut Storrs campus. The stage was warmer – and of course the wonderful reception from our Connecticut audience! Thanks for having us, UCONN!
Boston, Massachusetts
After some tranquility, it was time to head to a bigger city again, and we were thrilled to play a sold-out show at Jordan Hall in Boston, part of the New England Conservatory of Music. We also loved learning that ACO Violin Aiko Goto and ACO Cello Melissa Barnard met for the very first time, here in 1990, in this very hall.
At the time, Melissa was in her first year studying at the New England Conservatory and Aiko was a student at Toho Gakuen Music School. When the Toho toured the US, visiting from Tokyo, the two schools had organised a joint chamber music concert in which Melissa and Aiko played the Mendelssohn String Octet together. They didn’t know they’d meet again - until Aiko joined the Australian Chamber Orchestra eight years later! They then realised they had played the Octet and were happy to see each other and play together again! Many Mendelssohn Octets later we are still going strong.
Troy and New York, New York
The final stop of the tour is the ‘Big Apple’. We’re thrilled to be back in the 24-hour city for performances at 92NY, and upstate in Troy.
A big thank you to everyone who joined us for our seven concerts in the USA!
