Australian Chamber Orchestra: Isles of Light
21 June 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm AEST

The British Isles boast a magnificent anthology of music grounded in lush, poetic landscapes and thriving cities. This concert will transport you there. British violin and viola virtuoso Lawrence Power makes his ACO debut directing music from Thomas Tallis’ evocative theme – made famous by Vaughan Williams – to the genre-defying exuberance of Kate Bush.
Vaughan Williams’ sublime Fantasia is a pinnacle of the English music tradition that has inspired countless musicians. Herbert Howells heard its premiere and left the cathedral to wander awestruck through the streets of Gloucester, staying up all night with excitement before writing his Elegy, an answer to Vaughan Williams, and a prayer of thanksgiving for musical imagination.
Power is a brilliant violist who is equally at home on the violin. Effortlessly switching between the two instruments in the one performance, he is a thrilling and imaginative artist. Power will perform the world premiere of a new viola concerto written for him by his friend Garth Knox, inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and English folk music.
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