The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra has announced its 2026 concert season, promising a bold and joyous year of historically informed performance that traverses intimate chamber music, daring full-orchestra works, landmark recordings and vibrant education programs.
Charlotte Leamon, Limelight
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On a cool Sunday afternoon, the team at Arts in the Valley hosted a wonderful concert, programmed and put on by Music in the Regions (MitR) and performed by a quintet of principal players and founders of the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO). Rachel Beesley (co-founder) and Alison Rayner (violins), Stephen King (viola), Natasha Kraemer (cello) and clarinettist Nicole van Bruggen (co-founder) played a program of Schubert, Mayer and Mozart for this, their final concert in the tour of the Southern Highlands under the umbrella of Music in the Regions.
The hall was packed with an audience young and old…The wonderful hall acoustic was perfect for this program and right from the first few phrases of Franz Schubert’s early ‘D major Quartet D.94’, we knew we were in for a treat.
Bridget Crouch, Kangaroo Valley Voice
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Fresh from their recent Queensland tour and a sold-out Sydney Opera House performance, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) is performing at St Jude’s Church this Wednesday 22 October and at the Kangaroo Valley Public Hall on Sunday October 26.
These performances are part of a tour through rural New South Wales and Victoria, presented by Music in the Regions and locally through a partnership with the St Jude’s Music Association. […]
The orchestra brings music to life through vibrant, historically informed performances of orchestral and chamber music from the late 18th to early 20th centuries.
Antony Dubber, Southern Wire
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Performing on period instruments, ARCO will perform music from Schubert, Mozart and Emilie Mayer, including Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet.
Founded by renowned musician and educator, the late Richard Gill, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra specialises in historically informed performance of late 18th to early 20th century orchestral and chamber music on period instruments.
The ensemble will also workshop with the Shoalhaven Youth Orchestra and Milton Ulladulla String Orchestra on historical expression and techniques, inspiring local youth and community musicians.
Barbie Robinson, Living Arts Canberra
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On Friday, October 24, the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) will grace Mallacoota with a performance of Mozart’s Clarinet at MIVA Hall, starting at 1.30pm.
This concert is part of ARCO’s regional tour, presented by Music in the Regions, and marks a rare opportunity for the coastal community to experience world-class classical music.
Under the guidance of co-artistic directors Rachael Beesley and Nicole van Bruggen, ARCO is renowned for its historically informed performances on period instruments. The ensemble’s commitment to authenticity and passion for classical repertoire has earned them recognition as “the best HIPsters under the Southern Cross” by Limelight Magazine.
Snowy River Mail
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Fresh from a Queensland tour and sold-out Sydney Opera House performance, The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra tours rural New South Wales and Victoria, presented by Music in the Regions.
The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) is dedicated to bringing music to life through vibrant, historically informed performances of orchestral and chamber music from the late 18th to early 20th centuries.
Performing on period instruments, ARCO offers audiences a lush sound that transports you back in time, with sparkling music from Schubert, Mozart and Emilie Mayer – including Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet.
State of the Art
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Music lovers are offered a chance to step into a time machine and travel back to the 18th and 19th centuries, to hear authentic music from what was known as the romantic era.
Five members of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra are heading to the region, with performances at Huskisson, Bowral, Mallacoota, Wolumla and Kangaroo Valley between October 18 and 26.
They will be performing music by Schubert, Mayer and Mozart, on original instruments from the period in which the music was composed and first performed.
"They look different and sound different," said ARCO co-artistic director and clarinettist Nicole van Bruggen.
Glenn Ellard, South Coast Register
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Hear Stephen King, Adelaide ARCO violist and viola tutor at the Young Mannheim Symphonists 2025 National Academy, talk with 5MBS FM Kaleidoscope host Emily Sutherland about the brilliant young musicians coming this week from all over Australia to dive into historically informed performance as part of YMS 2025, Australia’s only national HIP youth orchestra.
Emily Sutherland, 5MBS FM
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“I personally love playing in regional areas, much more than playing in the city,” says Nicole van Bruggen, one of the co-founders of ARCO – the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra – and one of a quintet of leading players from the group on tour across the NSW South Coast this spring.
At the heart of the program is the famous Mozart clarinet quintet in A major, composed in the late 18th Century, with Nicole on the clarinet. The tour starts off at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum in Huskisson, on Saturday 18 October.
“When we go to regional areas, people really appreciate that we’re there. I feel like it’s so much more impactful for us as performers and educators. It’s really one of my favourite things to do.”
Samantha Tannous, Jervis Bay Weekend
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ABC Wide Bay Breakfast host David Dowsett talks to Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra’s co-artistic director and principal clarinettist Nicole van Bruggen about the ARCO tour to Bundaberg, Fraser Coast and Gympie, her historical basset clarinet and so much more.
David Dowsett, ABC Wide Bay
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Dancing strings, lilting clarinet – the Australian Romantic & Classic Orchestra has returned to Bundaberg with sparkling chamber music from three brilliant composers.
The ‘Mozart’s Clarinet’ tour soars from joyful Schubert to the freshness of female composer Emilie Mayer and one of music’s best-loved pieces: Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, played on a rare period basset clarinet.
ARCO co-artistic director and clarinetist Nicole van Bruggen said they were excited to bring this gorgeous music for the first time on period instruments to this part of Queensland.
“And we’re even happier to partner with so many wonderful local ensembles, music educators and filmmakers to celebrate Mozart with the whole community.”
Angela Norval, Bundaberg Today (photo: Elka Scherer)
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Dancing strings, lilting clarinet – the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra returns to regional Queensland with sparkling chamber music from three brilliant composers.
The ‘Mozart’s Clarinet’ tour soars from joyful Schubert to the freshness of female composer Emilie Mayer and one of music’s best-loved pieces: Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, played on a rare period basset clarinet.
The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) is coming to Bundaberg to showcase the beautiful and uplifting concert tour, Mozart’s Clarinet.
The tour soars from joyful Schubert to the freshness of female composer Emilie Mayer and one of music’s best-loved pieces: Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, played on a rare period basset clarinet.
ARCO co-artistic director and clarinetist Nicole van Bruggen said it was a show not to be missed.
“We’re excited to bring this gorgeous music for the first time on period instruments to this part of Queensland,” she said.
Bundaberg Now
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The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra brings Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet, musical talks and community film screenings to Bundaberg in a range of options that has to be seen to be believed, embracing a variety of musical tastes, talents and age groups.
The ‘Mozart’s Clarinet’ tour soars from joyful Schubert to the freshness of female composer Emilie Mayer and one of music’s best-loved pieces:, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, played on a rare period basset clarinet.
Angela Norval, Bundaberg Today
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The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO), under leader Rachael Beesley, are a crack Antipodean outfit defined by a rigorous approach to historically informed performance particularly pertaining to the 19th century and its 18th- and 20th-century fringes.
[In ‘Midsummer Dreams’] the Beethoven Symphony No. 8 thrillingly builds up the sound with great individual timbres, and energetic heft balanced with lightness throughout.
ARCO end with more Mendelssohn, this time the ‘Scottish’ Symphony, the opening made afresh with distinctive period wind. The sound is by turns tender, deep and rich, with an energy that can be truly exciting; the final movement is full of gutsy drive, superb phrasing and expression.
Sarah Unwin Jones, BBC Music Magazine
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The concert was recorded at a live performance in Sydney in August 2023, but the program was also performed at the Albert Hall in Canberra.
ARCO’s Operations and Communications manager (and double bass player) Rosemary Ponnekanti says the recording combines the generally upbeat but often overlooked Beethoven Symphony No 8 in F major with the more moody and romantic Mendelssohn ‘Scottish’ Symphony No 3 in A minor.
The orchestra, founded in 2012 by the late Richard Gill, comes together for three tours a year and is considered to be the forefront of historically informed performance.
Richard Scherer, Living Arts Canberra
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One of Australia’s HIPpest bands just got a lot hipper.
This latest recording from the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra under co-artistic director Rachael Beesley is a masterclass in historically informed performance (HIP), offering listeners an electrifying, visceral experience that transports them back to a richly imagined 19th-century sound world. Indeed, these thrilling performances, captured live, of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Overture, Op. 21, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Scottish (1843 version), are among the finest and most exciting I’ve heard.
Will Yeoman, Limelight
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Local classical music lovers can rejoice because the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra will be bringing a Mozart mini-festival to Gympie on 28-29 June, with a concert and film screening.
Gympie Today
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The Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) was made for this feat [the first Australian HIP performance of the Bach/Mendelsson 1841 St Matthew Passion]. ARCO joined forces with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Chamber Singers and VOX choirs under the direction of SPC’s Associate Music Director Dr Elizabeth Scott in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House.
[…]
In the heart-rending Erbarme dich.…Rachael Beesley’s performance was faultless and arresting, and her phrasing especially thoughtful….Apart from the prominent use of cellos and bass, the most interesting change in orchestration in the Mendelssohn version is the use of clarinets. In the Baroque, the oboe came closest to the human voice. In the Classical and Romantic age, it was the clarinet. Nicole van Bruggen on clarinet added the nostalgic warmth that the Mache Dich calls for.
Aryan Mohseni, State of the Art
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Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Vox and Chamber ensembles have come together with the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) to present Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the 1841 arrangement of the work by Felix Mendelssohn.
[…]
At times it feels like a revelation, a radically different palette of tone colours, bringing unfamiliar texture and suspense to the score.
[…]
Concertmaster Rachael Beesley and flutist Melissa Farrow bring mellifluous virtuosity to their obligato accompaniments while Teddy Tahu Rhodes shines as a charismatic and eloquent Christus. Finally, the hero of the evening is Andrew Goodwin as the Evangelist, his voice reaching into the heavens with sublime ease.
Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald
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