Bringing the 2026 National Concert Season to a close, Artistic Director Richard Tognetti directs an all-Beethoven program that opens with the Coriolan Overture. He then plays violin alongside ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve and pianist Konstantin Shamray in the Triple Concerto, before the expanded ACO performs the Sixth Symphony, Pastoral, in which the composer evokes the experience of being immersed in nature.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

To see Richard Tognetti and the ACO perform Beethoven is to experience a ‘magnificent unanimity’* of vision, drama and expressive force. In this majestic and uplifting finale to our 2026 National Concert Season, Richard and an expanded ACO perform an all-Beethoven program that takes audiences on a journey through creation and wonder, beginning with the dramatic Coriolan Overture before culminating in the master craftsman’s Pastoral Symphony.

Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is a love letter to the countryside. But it’s more than a musical picture of languid hills and changing seasons. Beethoven set out to capture how being immersed in nature feels. The awe of a sudden storm, and the inner peace that descends when it passes. The sense of wonder in a calling bird. Beethoven wanted you to feel his Pastoral Symphony, not just hear it.

Russian Australian pianist Konstantin Shamray shares a remarkable musical synergy with Richard Tognetti and ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve. It is fitting that this trio come together for Beethoven’s lyrical Triple Concerto, a work that basks in the joy of collaboration.