Rewind almost a year, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) was about to debut a concert series performing celebrated Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s much-loved 'Tabula Rasa'. Ironically enough, that means ‘blank slate’ in Latin, and pretty soon that’s exactly what the ACO was looking at, along with arts institutions Australia-wide.
Joyously, the show is back for a second shot, and fingers crossed this one will be fine. The two-part movement is teamed with ‘Chamber Symphony in C Minor’ by Russian hero Dmitri Shostakovich and a brand-new work, ‘Shanty’, from British composer Thomas Adès. He's one of the most performed and influential living composers, and it’s likely film lovers will have heard of him too. Pärt’s music pops up in a raft of TV shows and big-screen movies, from The Good Place to The Young Pope, and even Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron. As Pärt puts it, “No one knows how we will come out of this, but we all know that nothing will remain the same.”
One thing that has definitely improved in leaps and bounds is the accessibility of consuming art digitally. The ACO excelled during lockdown, offering exactly that with its stream-from-home series ACO HomeCasts, and ACO StudioCasts is the evolution of that endeavour. It's the Orchestra's inaugural paid digital subscription, including eight 50-minute, slickly captured concert films. The streaming solution acknowledges that interstate and international touring is not going to be a thing for some time yet. As such, after Tabula Rasa’s one-off show at Wollongong Town Hall on February 8 and a City Recital Hall run February 9-14, a slick, alterante video version of the performance will head online on Wednesday. It will be an all-new experience shot with cinematography in mind: think music video swish. It will debut on August 18 at 8pm and will be available for subscribers to watch on demand until the end of the year.
Tognetti, who recently marked 30 years at the helm of ACO, is psyched that 'Tabula Rasa' will kick off a series of eight concert films from the company in 2021. “As Australia’s most travelled orchestra, we are committed to bringing transformative musical experiences to all audiences across the world, and ACO StudioCasts does just that in true ACO style.”
