Richard Tognetti

He has developed a keen sensibility for performing music on period, modern and electric instruments, and has performed with a wide range of musicians covering many genres. His arrangements of works by Janácek, Szymanowski, Paganini, Beethoven, Ravel and Satie among others have served to expand the chamber orchestra repertoire.

In addition to Tognetti’s busy schedule at home and overseas with the ACO, solo and chamber music activities have included a performance of Mendelssohn’s Octet at the Salzburg Festival, Brahms's Double Concerto with Pieter Wispelwey and conductor Frans Brueggen, and the Australian premiere of Ligeti's Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Performances in the 2001 Sydney Festival of Mozart’s Mitridate, rè di Ponto marked Tognetti’s debut as an opera conductor.

CD releases with the ACO include Beethoven's Violin Concerto, at classical pitch, on ABC Classics, and three recent discs for Chandos, featuring music by Piazzolla, Sculthorpe and three of his own acclaimed quartet arrangements. The ACO’s ground-breaking 2000 collaboration with rock singer Peter Garrett and cartoonist/philosopher Michael Leunig resulted in the release of a recording of The Carnival of the Animals accompanying a book of Leunig’s text and illustrations. Amidst his ever more varied activities have been an appearance at the Opening Ceremony of the Rugby World Cup 2003 with James Crabb and work on Peter Weir’s 2003 film Master and Commander – as composer, soundtrack soloist and violin tutor to Russell Crowe.

Tognetti, who was made a National Living Treasure in 1999, performs on a 1759 JB Guadagnini violin, using a combination of raw gut and steel strings. The violin was purchased by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for its Fine Art collection and has been lent to Richard Tognetti on a semi-permanent basis.