Celebrating 50 Years of the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Chair of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Mr Martyn Myer AO; ACO supporters and musicians; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people here this evening.

Graeme and I are delighted to welcome you to Government House to celebrate ACO’s 50^th year and to acknowledge the exceptional contribution the orchestra has made to the cultural life of Australia over the past half-century.

As many of you here tonight will remember, the early seventies was a boom time for the performing arts in Australia – the Whitlam government established the Australia Council; the Sydney Opera House opened; and concert halls and theatres emerged in other capitals, creating unprecedented opportunities for arts companies.

Part of this heady mix was the bold decision by a far-sighted cellist, John Painter, to establish a small, flexible chamber orchestra with the potential to become a permanent national ensemble.

He named it the Australian Chamber Orchestra and it gave its first performance on the 21^st of November 1975.

Professor Painter turns 93 this year and, in retrospect, I suspect he would probably agree that November that year was perhaps not an ideal time to launch a new enterprise – getting media coverage was a challenge when, just ten days earlier, Australia had witnessed one of the most tumultuous and controversial events in its history: the Remembrance Day dismissal.

But, with plans so far advanced, the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust went ahead with the inaugural performance on the scheduled date in the Concert Hall of Sydney Opera House, with its 12 young players led by Robert Ingram and conducted by Robert Pikler.

That concert marked the beginning of 50 remarkable years of pushing boundaries and challenging expectations on the way to establishing an international reputation and a dedicated Australian audience.

The person who has been central to that journey for the past 35 years is Richard Tognetti. When the orchestra gave its first performance in 1975, he was a 10-year-old boy from Wollongong who loved surfing, but within just 14 years, his would become the vision that has driven and inspired the company ever since.

From its beginnings, rehearsing above a shop in King’s Cross, the orchestra today has its own, permanent home in Sydney’s Walsh Bay Arts Precinct; it presents more than a hundred performances each year; it has given unparalleled opportunities to 113 young musicians through its Emerging Artist Program; and it has become one of our nation’s most celebrated cultural exports.

It has now commissioned more than 120 works and fearlessly provokes its audiences, testing their limits, introducing them to new ideas and concepts. Only such an orchestra would present a 50^th anniversary program that includes both the epic works of Brahms and Beethoven and the songs of the Beach Boys!

On behalf of all Queenslanders, I thank the ACO board, management, and musicians for their continued commitment to Queensland. Last night was the first of the six magnificent Monday night concerts you will bring us in 2025 – a fitting start to this golden anniversary year.

May there be many more!