Neverland. It’s that imaginary island where you never grow up, perhaps where you can play car racing video games, or where you might reconcile with an estranged friend and take walks in the local woods. The Australian Chamber Orchestra gave life to these imaginations in a brilliant and wide-ranging concert in front of a full house at Llewellyn Hall.

Richard Tognetti and Timo-Veikko Valve with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Photo © Julian Kingma

With the hall in darkness, guest principal trumpet, Visa Haarala, from Finland’s Kymi Sinfonietta, stood in the balcony, his bright and happy trumpet true to every note of Australian composer, Andrew Ford’s Fanfare for Neverland Solo Trumpet, written in 2016 and being given its world premiere now. At times the short piece was reminiscent of the famous Last Post in its melancholy, but mostly it did as fanfares do, making an announcement, calling on double/triple tonguing and rapid note sequences, exploring the trumpet’s full range. Haarala produced extraordinary clarity in his playing, delivering a crisp sound that filled the expansive room effortlessly.

As Haarala neared the end of the piece, eight violin players on the stage stood, the lights...