Australian Chamber Orchestra To Tour Japan With Australia Now

The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) will tour to Japan in late May in association with the Australian Government's Australia now initiative, an eight-month program running from April-December 2018 that celebrates the significant cultural, innovation and lifestyle connections between Australia and Japan.

The tour will see the ACO perform two dynamic concerts in Tokyo's Yomiuri Otemachi Hall on the 29 and 30 May. In quintessential ACO style, these concerts will traverse from masterpieces by Vivaldi and JS Bach, to music by contemporary Latvian composer P?teris Vasks and Egyptian-Australian oud player and composer Joseph Tawadros. In addition, ACO musicians will conduct education activities with talented local students during their time in Tokyo.

The Australian Ambassador to Japan, H.E. Mr Richard Court ac, welcomed the ACO tour, noting: "As a world leader in its field, the ACO brings all of Australia's vitality, originality and diversity to life on stage. Australia and Japan have much in common, not least our love of the arts and the fusing of creative ideas. I know Japanese audiences will delight in hearing the ACO at Tokyo's prestigious Yomiuri Otemachi Hall as part of Australia now and in collaboration with the Australia-Japan Foundation."

According to ACO Managing Director Richard Evans, the ACO shares a strong affinity with Japan.

"After eight years away, the ACO is delighted to return to Japan as part of the 2018 Australia now program with support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including the Australia-Japan Foundation," said Evans. "The ACO has maintained a strong connection with Japan since its first tour to Tokyo in 1980. This is in no small part to the fact that two of our own - ACO violinist Aiko Goto and ACO Principal Violin Satu Vänskä - have origins in Japan, having grown up in Tokyo and Tokushima respectively.

"We are greatly looking forward to building upon our long-standing relationship with Japan through performing these two concerts at Tokyo's spectacular Yomiuri Otemachi Hall, as well as engaging in outreach activities with local students and audiences."

In addition to performing in these concerts, ACO violinist Aiko Goto will return with her ACO colleagues to the school where she received much of her exemplary musical training, the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, to conduct workshops with the school's talented young string players.

Coinciding with the tour, Tokyo audiences will be treated to a special preview screening of Mountain, Richard Tognetti and director Jennifer Peedom's cinematic and musical offering to nature's majestic formations, on the 28 May at the Space FS Shiodome. The screening will open with a solo performance from Tognetti.

The Australia now program will feature almost 40 events across Japan. Other organisations travelling to Japan to participate in the program include Bangarra Dance Theatre, the NSW Waratahs, Back to Back Theatre, Questacon, Flickerfest, the National Health and Medical Research Council and leading academics from Australia's top universities.

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