Beethoven’s Pastoral

Richard Tognetti directs the Australian Chamber Orchestra in a thrilling season finale featuring Beethoven’s epic and transportive Sixth Symphony. To see Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra perform Beethoven is to experience a ‘magnificent unanimity’* of vision, drama and expressive force. In this majestic and uplifting finale to our 2026 National Concert Season, Richard and an expanded ACO perform an all-Beethoven program that takes audiences on a journey through creation and wonder, beginning with the dramatic Coriolan Overture before culminating in the master craftsman’s Pastoral Symphony. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is a love letter to the countryside. But it’s more than a musical picture of languid hills and changing seasons. Beethoven set out to capture how being immersed in nature feels. The awe of a sudden storm, and the inner peace that descends when it passes. The sense of wonder in a calling bird. Beethoven wanted you to feel his Pastoral Symphony, not just hear it. Russian Australian pianist Konstantin Shamray shares a remarkable musical synergy with Richard Tognetti and ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve. It is fitting that this trio come together for Beethoven’s lyrical Triple Concerto, a work that basks in the joy of collaboration. The Australian Chamber Orchestra is one of the most acclaimed chamber orchestras in the world. Led by their pioneering Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, the Orchestra is defined by its exceptional virtuosity and an irrepressible sense of adventure and curiosity.