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ACO Principal Violinists Satu Vänskä and Helena Rathbone during rehearsals

Intimate Mendelssohn & Bach

Intimate Mendelssohn & Bach
1 - 12 August 2020
These performances have been suspended due to the outbreak of COVID-19. If you are a current ticket holder, please click here to review your options to donate your tickets, or to receive a credit or refund. 
Richard Tognetti leads the ACO through chamber music favourites, including Mendelssohn’s beloved Octet for Strings.

Russian pianist Polina Leschenko, a musician hailed around the world for her intensely expressive musicianship and explosive technique, will make her much anticipated return to the ACO to join Richard Tognetti for Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings. This exhilarating concerto will be followed by an ‘Impromptu’ Bach set that, in true salon style, will change for each concert.

Rounding out the program is one of the most beloved pieces of chamber music ever written, Mendelssohn’s soaring Octet in E-flat major. A work of brilliance and sublime melodic beauty, this piece – to be performed by eight virtuoso musicians of the ACO – is hailed by musicians and music-lovers alike as “one of the miracles of 19th-century music”.


Program Details

FANNY MENDELSSOHN – String Quartet in E-flat major: IV. Allegro molto vivace (arr. strings)
6:00
FELIX MENDELSSOHN – Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings
36:00
BACH – “Impromptu” Set
12:00
FELIX MENDELSSOHN – Octet
31:00
CONCERT duration
105 min (incl interval)
Playlist by the ACO
Intimate Mendelssohn & Bach
Join us 45 minutes before the performance to learn about the concert from a music expert. Speakers will be announced prior to the first concert date.

Sat 1 Aug, 7:15pm


Sun 2 Aug, 1:45pm


Mon 3 Aug, 6:45pm


Tue 4 Aug, 6:45pm


Wed 5 Aug, 6:45pm


Sat 8 Aug, 6:15pm


Sun 9 Aug, 1:15pm


Tue 11 Aug, 7:15pm


Wed 12 Aug, 6:15pm


Mon 10 Aug, 6:15pm


Artists

Pianist Polina Leschenko

Polina Leschenko

Piano

Polina Leschenko was born in St Petersburg into a family of musicians and made her debut with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra in St Petersburg at the age of eight. She has worked with prominent orchestras around the world and given recitals in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Concertgebouw, the Berliner Philharmonie, and Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York.
ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti

Richard Tognetti AO

Director & Violin

Richard Tognetti is Artistic Director and Lead Violin of the ACO. He has established an international reputation for his compelling performances and artistic individualism.

Richard has appeared as director or soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras. He was Artistic Director of Slovenia’s Festival Maribor from 2008 to 2015 and the first Artist-in-Residence at the Barbican Centre’s Milton Court in 2016. In addition, he has curated and co-composed film scores including the ACO’s Mountain.

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The Australian Chamber Orchestra on stage

Australian Chamber Orchestra

The Australian Chamber Orchestra travels a remarkable road. Making waves across Australia and around the world for its explosive performances and brave interpretations, the ACO embraces celebrated classics alongside new commissions, and adventurous cross-artform collaborations.

Composers

Composer JS Bach

JS Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer who enriched and perfected the Baroque style. A prolific composer of instrumental music and sacred vocal music, his works have had an enduring impact on western culture. In his time, Bach was renowned as an organist, able to improvise fugues with ease. To many, Bach is the greatest composer to have ever lived.
Composer Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer whose symphonies, concertos and chamber music are beloved by many. One of music’s great child prodigies, some of his most enduring works were composed during his teenage years. He is the composer of a celebrated Wedding March, as well as the melody of the Christmas carol 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing'.
Composer Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn was a German composer and pianist, and the older sister of Felix Mendelssohn. Although her brother achieved greater fame, Fanny composed over 460 pieces of music, including some that were published under her brother’s name.