As a result of Kopatchinskaja’s withdrawal, the ACO has created a new programme to spotlight members of the orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s (ACO) artistic director Richard Tognetti has announced that Patricia Kopatchinskaja has pulled out of its upcoming tour Death and the Maiden Revealed, due to injury.
’I am incredibly dismayed and disappointed that you won’t get to experience quirky Kopatchinskaja and her interpretation of Schubert’s chamber masterpiece,’ said Tognetti in a statement on social media. ’I understand that you will share this disappointment so please accept our sincerest apologies as we wish her well in her recovery.’
The ACO has reprogrammed its Australian tour to spotlight members of the orchestra in its 50th anniversary year. ’Building a new programme, less than a month out from opening a national tour, is no easy task and while we like getting out of our comfort zone, we don’t take these changes lightly,’ said Tognetti.
The upcoming tour from 21 June to 2 July, ACO Unleashed, will feature works by Bach, Beethoven, Ravel, Schubert and Kuusisto. Principal violin Satu Vänskä will feature as soloist in Ravel’s Tzigane, and she will join fellow principal Helena Rathbone and the ACO’s newest member, Anna da Silva Chen, in Bach’s Concerto for Three Violins in D major.
Principal cello Timo-Veikko Valve will perform Jaakko Kuusisto’s Cello Concerto, in the work’s Australian premiere. The ensemble will also perform Tognetti’s arrangement of Beethoven String Quartet in F minor, op. 95 ‘Serioso,’ plus Schubert’s Quartettsatz.
’In our 50th Anniversary year, I’ve been reflecting on what it is that makes the ACO special. There are many reasons, but I keep coming back to my colleagues in the Orchestra – incredible musicians who I am privileged to share the stage with. They’re the nucleus of ACO Unleashed, a concert showcasing the unique spirit of the ACO and the incredible talent within our own ranks,’ said Tognetti.
Read: Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja on the shadow world of Shostakovich
Read: Masterclass: Schubert ‘Death and the Maiden’ String Quartet, second movement
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