ACO live concerts are like a homecoming

Music in front of a live audience has made a tentative comeback with the ACO’s five one-hour concerts in the City Recital Hall. For reviewer Steve Moffatt it was a homecoming.

The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s return concert at Sydney’s City Recital Hall. Picture: Daniel Boud

• ACO let the sun shine in

Sitting in the stalls for the first time in months watching the City Recital Hall gradually fill to its COVID-safe 400-seat quota, the ghosts of concerts past began to haunt me.

My mind wandered over the countless evenings spent here after a hectic day’s work. All the magic musical moments. All the international and homegrown stars of classical, jazz, rock and folk music … All the hours of pleasure, many of them watching these very musicians – Richard Tognetti and his wonderful band.

It was like a homecoming as I settled in for another transporting hour. The concert was called Transfigured – and that’s how I felt at the end of it.