The Australian Chamber Orchestra with violinist and director Richard Tognetti

The renowned Australian Chamber Orchestra will soon visit our side of the globe, bringing a program that moves from the clarity of Purcell and the brilliance of Handel to the pastoral calm of Vaughan Williams and the dramatic sweep of Schubert. A new work by John Luther Adams, receiving its United States premiere, adds a contemporary voice that rounds out the evening with a sense of the spaciousness of the natural world.

The Midwest Trust Center presents Five Centuries of the Sublime with the Australian Chamber Orchestra led by violinist Richard Tognetti at Yardley Hall April 19 at 7 P.M.

The ensemble has long been known for performances that balance precision with a quiet electricity. Much of that comes from the group’s long history together and the shared musical instincts that develop over time. Principal cellist Timo-Veikko Valve described the ensemble as something closer to a large string quartet than a traditional chamber orchestra. “Even though there’s 17 of us, we kind of feel like we are like a string quartet traveling around,” he said. “A lot of us have stayed with the band for a very long time.” That sense of familiarity shapes the ACO’s sound and the way the players respond to one another onstage.

The first half of the concert places Henry Purcell and John Luther Adams side by side. Instead of presenting their works separately, the ACO has created a staging concept that lets the two composers speak to each other across time.

“We’re actually weaving together the music of Henry Purcell and John Luther Adams,” Valve said. “We’re putting this old world and the current world in conversation with each other and it makes both sound different somehow.”

Purcell’s music remains one of the high points of the English Baroque and English music in general. His expressive harmonies and luminous counterpoint shaped British music for generations. His early death at 36 left a legacy that would not be matched in England until the era of Edward Elgar. 

The power of Purcell’s Fantazia upon One Note lies in its paradox: a single unmoving note that generates an entire world of motion. It’s a miniature study in musical gravity, and one of Purcell’s most imaginative contributions to the English consort tradition. It has even inspired modern composers like Elliott Carter and Oliver Knussen.

Adams composes enveloping sonic landscapes inspired by nature and environmentalism. Horizon takes its title from a book by Barry Lopez, which chronicles Lopez’ journeys to six remote ecologically significant locations including the high Arctic, the Galápagos and Antarctica.

Horizon unfolds in long, spacious lines and uses an unusual onstage layout. Adams spent many years in Alaska, where the environment became central to his work, and that sense of open terrain is reflected in the pacing and atmosphere of the score. Valve described it as “a very expansive and meditative work” and noted that it creates a visual impression as well as a musical one.

Henry Purcell

John Luther Adams

The first half closes with one of Handel’s Concerti Grossi, works written during his productive London years and published in 1739 as part of a larger set. They draw on the older Italian concerto grosso tradition, with small groups of players set against the full ensemble, yet Handel gives the form a warmth and theatrical ease that reflects his long experience in the opera house. For the ACO, these pieces feel especially alive. “They’re just so much fun and have so much joy and life in them,” Valve said. “A piece like that really evolves over each performance. The players don’t really know how it’s going to go that evening. It’s very intuitive, which is exciting for us.”

After intermission, the orchestra turns to Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, one of the most cherished works in the English repertoire. Its soaring violin solo, played by Tognetti, suggests the flight of a skylark rising over open fields. Written on the eve of the First World War and revised after it, the piece has a calm, pastoral quality that has made it a favorite for generations. British listeners have voted it the most popular classical work of all time in Classic FM’s annual poll many times.

Valve called it “a beautiful, beautiful violin solo” and noted that it is one of Tognetti’s signature pieces. Its gentle atmosphere offers a moment of reflection before the program turns toward Schubert.

Richard Tognetti

Ralph Vaughan Williams

The evening concludes with Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, arranged for string orchestra by Tognetti. Originally a string quartet, the work is one of the landmarks of the chamber repertoire. It is dramatic, urgent, and full of emotional contrast.

“It’s drama,” Valve said. “The explosiveness of the first movement together with our way of performing, which can be quite energetic, will hopefully have an effect on the audience.” The slow movement, based on Schubert’s own song Der Tod und das Mädchen, brings a moment of stillness before the finale drives forward with remarkable force. Schubert wrote the quartet in 1824 while facing illness and financial strain, yet the music carries a striking vitality. Valve expects the ending to land with real impact. “The ferocity of the last movement will hopefully arouse a lot of applause at the end.”

Franz Schubert

Timo-Veikko Valve

From Purcell’s clear Baroque lines to Adams’s spacious sound world, from Handel’s bright energy to Vaughan Williams’s pastoral calm, and finally to Schubert’s powerful Romantic writing, the program offers a wide view of the ensemble’s strengths. “I think this is a full package,” Valve said. “This is a great program. It will showcase our orchestra in a very nice way.”