Page 127 - FINAL_Guildhall Media Highlights 2019-2020 Coverage Book

The second concert on 4 October brought distinguished Australian photographer Bill
Henson together again with the ACO for their reinterpretation of Luminous.

This piece was first performed back in 2005 and reprised a few years later. Luminous was
performed for a third time around Australia in August in a national tour with singer Lior. The
program included a varied selection of music by artists including George Crumb, Janacek,
R.E.M, Benjamin Britten and Peteris Vasks, accompanying Henson’s darkly haunting and
provocative images.

The third concert, on 5 October, featured Richard Tognetti’s signature interpretation of two of
Britain's most loved orchestral pieces – Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and
Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge.

Musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama joined the ACO on stage for this
performance. Also on the program was Peteris Vasks’ Viatore and Schoenberg’s Verklärte
Nacht.

The ACO was in very good company at Milton Court as one of three International Associate
Ensembles invited to take a three-year residency, along with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra
and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

The residency is partly a result of ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti’s success as the
first Artist-in-Residence at Milton Court Concert Hall in 2016/17. But it’s also a result of the
ACO’s many (30 at last count) visits to London stages, and their reputation for vibrant,
exciting interpretations of classical ‘standards’ and dramatic presentations of contemporary
pieces from the likes of Peteris Vasks, Peter Sculthorpe, and even Jonny Greenwood of
Radiohead fame.

Their collaborations with artists from other genres, such as filmmakers and photographers,
have yielded innovative melds of inter-genre music and images, such as 2017’s Mountain,
with live music played to BAFTA-nominated director Jennifer Peedom’s epic documentary
narrated by twice-nominated Academy Award actor Willem Dafoe.

Surfing was the subject of The Reef, a personal odyssey of Richard Tognetti’s that merged
differing music styles with surfing footage.

The Barbican Centre is one of London’s iconic arts centres catering to theatre, art, music,
and much more in its venues.