The Australian Chamber Orchestra is surely one of the most exciting ensembles currently performing; their instrument collection is unrivaled and their onstage energy is electric.

It is no surprise, then, that its evening of Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, alongside a world premiere and an Australian premiere lights up the Hamer Hall 

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams’ Horizon opens the evening. This world premiere is influenced by his friend Barry Lopez’s book of the same name, an epic collection of essays and observations on the natural world. Luther Adams – a keen environmental activist – explores the horizon both as a line encircling the Earth and as a dark future shaped by climate decline.

He builds a soundscape from a single double bass, adding instruments one by one to a low-burning, immersive canvas of sound. Each instrument adds a layer to the terrain, creating a hypnotic rumble evocative of an Australian landscape. It is largely effective: the music is undeniably atmospheric. However, the work’s restraint occasionally tips into inertia and risks losing momentum over its extended span.