Known around the world for its inspired programming and rapturous response from audiences and critics, the Australian Chamber Orchestra returns to the Moss Arts Center for its second visit on Sunday, April 7, at 4 p.m.

The performance will be held in the center’s Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, located within the Street and Davis Performance Hall at 190 Alumni Mall.

The orchestra’s unique artistic style is steeped in history but always looking to the future. Its programs embrace celebrated classics alongside new commissions and adventurous cross-artform collaborations. Richard Tognetti became the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s artistic director and lead violin in 1989, and under his leadership the orchestra has performed as a flexible and versatile ensemble of soloists on modern and period instruments, as a small chamber group, as a small symphony orchestra, and as an electro-acoustic collective.

This performance will feature a new work by Samuel Adams, which is premiering on this current tour; Brahms’ String Sextet no. 2 in G major, op. 36; and Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 12 in A major, featuring Inon Barnatan on piano. Celebrated for his poetic sensibility, musical intelligence, and consummate artistry, Barnatan recently completed his third season as the New York Philharmonic’s first artist-in-association and has received both the Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award.

Founded by cellist John Painter in 1975, the 17-piece string orchestra lives and breathes music, and is known for its explosive performances and brave interpretations. The orchestra performs more than 100 concerts across Australia each year and maintains an international touring schedule that finds it in many of the world’s greatest concert halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper.

In 2018 the ensemble began a three-year London residency as International Associate Ensemble at Milton Court in partnership with the Barbican Centre. The orchestra regularly collaborates with artists and musicians who share its ideology, including Emmanuel Pahud, Steven Isserlis, Dawn Upshaw, Olli Mustonen, Brett Dean, Ivry Gitlis, Neil Finn, Jonny Greenwood, Barry Humphries, and Meow, as well as visual artists and filmmakers such as Michael Leunig, Bill Henson, Shaun Tan, Jon Frank, and Jennifer Peedom, who have co-created unique, hybrid productions with the orchestra.

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The Moss Arts Center will also present a free matinee performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra for students in sixth through 12th grades from Botetourt, Montgomery, Tazewell, Pulaski, Craig, Giles, Floyd, and Roanoke counties, as well as the cities of Radford and Roanoke.

Tickets

Tickets are $40-75 for general audience and $10 for students and youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.

While Virginia Tech students can always attend any Moss Arts Center performance for only $10, the center also offers free last minute rush tickets for students who sign up for text notifications. To receive these notifications, text “arts” to 31996. Availability of rush tickets varies by performance and tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last in the box office. Virginia Tech ID will be required for admission.

Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Kacy McAllister at 540-231-5300 or email kmcallis@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to an event.

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