Directed by ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve, this soul-stirring concert explores music’s power to console, uplift and renew. Recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey joins the ACO for the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang’s flute and echo. Spanning 900 years, the program moves from Hildegard von Bingen’s 12th-century hymn Ave generosa to reimagined Baroque works by Monteverdi and Strozzi, Beethoven’s luminous “Holy Song of Thanksgiving”, and Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight – a piece the composer described as “a protest against the Iraq war”.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

Music is visceral and vital. In A Musical Awakening, we invite you to take a breath and lean into this program designed to nourish your soul. Directed by ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve, the Orchestra will be joined by friend and recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey, whose mastery of this most elemental of instruments is unsurpassed.

We’ll explore the different ways music can heal, culminating in Beethoven’s Holy Song of Thanksgiving, composed after his recovery from a life-threatening illness. Beethoven was forever facing down adversity with music, and this heartfelt masterpiece is filled with quiet joy and a deep gratitude for life and the chance to live it.