The Australian Chamber Orchestra has announced its 2020 season, Richard Tognetti’s 30th as Artistic Director. The season will include four brand-new works commissioned by the ACO, four Australian premieres, as well as a performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Australian Heldentenor Stuart Skelton and, of course, plenty of Beethoven in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Richard Tognetti. Photo © Nic Walker

Tognetti took over artistic leadership of the ACO in 1989, when he was just 25, and has been in the role ever since. “I keep thinking, well, surely I’m not going to be here in five years time, and then suddenly it’s five years time, and I’m thinking, well, I won’t be here in another five years time,” he says.

But he’s also propelled by projects. “It takes a while to get projects going,” he laughs. “If I pulled out as planned five years ago, then I wouldn’t have been doing Luminous, I wouldn’t have done Mountain and so I’ve got another few projects lined up that I really want to...