Richard Leo Tognetti AO is an Australian musician, violin soloist, ensemble player, leader, composer and arranger, conductor and artistic director.
As of March 2026, he serves as the artistic director and lead violinist of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO).
Early life and education Richard Leo Tognetti was born in Canberra. He was raised in Wollongong, where he began his violin studies with Harold Brissenden, the retired Scottish violist William Primrose, and his wife Hiroko, who was a Suzuki method specialist. At the age of 11 he was admitted to the Conservatorium High School in Sydney, and continued his tertiary studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
His teacher was Alice Waten, herself a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and former student of Valery Klimov and David Oistrakh.Associate Professor Alice Waten. Accessed 5 September 2019. While there, Tognetti became leader and soloist of the chamber orchestra conducted by John Painter who was the Conservatorium's Director and later founder of ACO. In 1980 he won the National Youth Concerto Competition held in Brisbane by the Queensland Youth Symphony.
In 1987 Tognetti left Australia for post-graduate studies with Igor Ozim at the Bern Conservatory (now known as the University of the Arts Bern). During his time there he became a member of and soloist with the prestigious Camerata Bern, gave solo performances with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, and was guest concertmaster of the Basel Sinfonietta. Finally, at the end of his studies in 1989 he was awarded the Eduard Tschumi Musikpreis as the best graduate performer of that year.
Career Appointment to the Australian Chamber Orchestra On return to Australia that same year Tognetti was appointed first as leader and then as artistic director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, a remarkable development for a musician just 25 years old at the time. 2020 marked the 30th anniversary of his leadership of the orchestra.
During that time ACO has become regarded as one of the world's leading chamber orchestras. It tours several times a year around Australia presenting concerts in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney and Wollongong and participates regularly in various Australian arts festivals. Its annual overseas visits have taken it to the UK and Europe, North America and Asia where it has been heard in concert halls including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall, Washington, D.C.'s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper. It has held residencies in Hong Kong, a three-year post in London as International Associate Ensemble at the Barbican Centre's Milton Court, and through Tognetti's role as artistic director of Slovenia's Maribor Festival has had regular engagements there.
ACO's reputation has been affirmed in the Australian and international media. For example, Vincent Plush in The Weekend Australian said, "The Australian Chamber Orchestra is uniformly high-octane, arresting and never ordinary",Plush. "Mountain. Australian Chamber Orchestra. ABC Classics." The Weekend Australian - Review, 2–3 September 2017. Retrieved from PressReader. Accessed 9 September 2019. The New York Times' Jeremy Eichler noted "virtuoso ensemble playing and an invigorating spontaneity that seemed to flow from Mr Tognetti's charismatic leadership",Eichler, Jeremy. "Australians in Black, Gambling on Versatility." The New York Times. Published online 4 May 2004. Accessed 9 September 2019. The Washington Post's Anne Midgette described the orchestra as having "the energy and vibe of a rock band with the ability of a crack classical chamber group",Midgette, Anne. "Australian Chamber Orchestra Is Energetic if Imperfect." The Washington Post, published online on 1 October 2009. Accessed 7 September 2019. the Los Angeles Times's Mark Swed said, "this red hot band is long overdue for a major record contract and star treatment",Swed, Mark. "Music Review." Los Angeles Times, published online on 23 April 2009. Accessed 7 September 2019. Andrew Clements from the UK's The Guardian declared, "If there’s a better chamber orchestra in the world today, I haven’t heard it",Clements, Andrew. "Australian CO/Richard Tognetti – review." The Guardian, published online on 29 November 2011. Accessed 7 September 2019. and London's The Times hailed one of its appearances there by saying, "This must be the best chamber orchestra on earth." Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra were featured in the 2003 documentary film Musical Renegades and its soundtrack album, earning the Orchestra a nomination for the ARIA Music Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album in 2004.
Tognetti as performer, composer and arranger Tognetti himself is an extremely versatile violinist with repertoire that covers all periods from the Baroque onwards. As his rapid professional progress suggests, Tognetti is highly regarded as a soloist with the opinions of many expressed in a review from the UK's The Telegraph: "He is one of the most characterful, incisive and impassioned violinists to be heard today."Hewett, Ivan. "Perfect commingling of spiritual and human: Ivan Hewett reviews the Australian Chamber Orchestra at Bath Abbey." The Telegraph, published online 29 May 2006. Accessed 7 September 2019.
Tognetti uses a number of violins according to need, most frequently the 1743 Guarneri del Gesù violinKnown as the "Carrodus" and named after English violinist John Tiplady Carrodus (1836–1895), it is often listed among the four or five best violins produced by this maker. At the time of its purchase in 2007 by an anonymous Australian its value was assessed at A$10 million (£3.9 million). Accessed 5 September 2019. he has on extended loan from an anonymous owner. Others include period, modern and electric instruments. For example, in 1999 he and Australian rock musician Iva Davies co-wrote for an international millennium broadcast a work called The Ghost of Time for electric violin and orchestra and he performed it with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on 31 December of that year.
Other works by Tognetti include The Red Tree for children's choir, chamber orchestra and projected images, co-written with Australian composer Michael Yezerski and inspired by Shaun Tan's illustrated book of the same name, music for Peter Weir's motion picture Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World co-written with Iva Davies and Christopher Gordon, and his music integrated with that of other composers in his documentaries such as Musica Surfica, The Reef, The Glide, The Crowd and Mountain. Musica Surfica, his film about music and his hobby surfing, won Best Feature at the 2008 New York Surf Film Festival.
As an arranger Tognetti has created repertoire for many different ensembles including ACO who have performed and recorded these works. Composers have included Janáček (String Quartet No 1 'Kreutzer Sonata'), Szymanowski (String Quartet No 2, Op 56), Haas (String Quartet No 2, Op. 7 'From the Monkey Mountains'), Paganini (Tognetti's own work Caprice on Caprices based on two of the original Caprices for solo violin), Schubert (String Quartet No 14 in D minor, D 810 'Death and the Maiden'), Beethoven (Violin Sonata No 9 in A major, Op 47 'Kreutzer'), Grieg (String Quartet No 1 in G minor, Op 27), Ravel (String Quartet in F major) and Satie (Choses vues à droite et à gauche (sans lunettes)).
Tognetti has been a longstanding collaborator with Oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros, with their album Concerto of the Greater Sea winning the ARIA Award for Best World Music Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2012.ARIA Award previous winners. In March 2023, Tawadros and Tognetti were again live with the ACO in their concert Four Seasons at Hamer Hall, Melbourne.ACO: Four Seasons. 19 March 2023. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Along with his busy schedule with ACO, Tognetti has appeared with other ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society (Boston), the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Nordic Chamber OrchestraCalled the Nordiska Kammarorkestern in Swedish, this professional orchestra is based in Sundsvall. Accessed 5 September 2019. and all the major Australian symphony orchestras, particularly the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with whom he has appeared as soloist and director. He has also performed with various musicians from different genres including an appearance with Scottish classical accordionist James Crabb at the Opening Ceremony of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. At the 2001 Sydney Festival he made his debut as an opera conductor with Opera Australia's production of Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto, K 87.
Recordings As a soloist Tognetti has made many recordings including the violin concertos of Bach (ABC Classics ABC4765691), Beethoven (ABC Classics ABC4654252), Mozart (BIS BISSACD1754 & BISSACD1755) Vivaldi (BIS BISCD2103) and Dvořák (BIS BISCD1708) as well as chamber works such as Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001–1006 (ABC Classics ABC4768051) and the Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1014–1019 (ABC Classics ABC4765942).
Either leading or conducting ACO in association with other international musicians he has also recorded many works including Beethoven's piano concertos with Stephen Kovacevich (EMI Eminence CD-EMX 2177 (nla), CD-EMX2190 (nla) & CD-EMX 2184 (nla), Bach's keyboard concertos with Angela Hewitt (Hyperion CDA 67307 & CDA 67308), Vivaldi's flute concertos with Emmanuel Pahud (EMI Classics 0946 3 47212 2 6), Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No 1 in E flat major, Op 107 with Pieter Wispelwey (Channel Classics CCS 15395), Baroque trombone repertoire with Christian Lindberg (BIS BISCD1688), Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, Op 58 with Dejan Lazić (Channel Classics CCS SA 30511), Haydn's cello concertos with Daniel Müller-Schott (Orfeo C080031A), and a ground-breaking 2000 collaboration with Australia's rock singer and former politician Peter Garrett and cartoonist, poet and cultural commentator Michael Leunig which resulted in the release of a recording of Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals accompanying a book of Leunig's text and illustrations (Sydney: Macmillan, 2000. .).
Honours and awards In 1997 Tognetti received an honorary Doctor of Creative Arts degree from the University of Wollongong, the youngest recipient ever to receive such an award from that university."Citation delivered by Professor Gerard Sutton, Vice Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, on the occasion of the admission of Richard Leo Tognetti to the Degree of Doctor of Creative Arts honoris causa on 27 April 1997." Accessed 5 September 2019. This was followed in 2003 with an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Western AustraliaThe University of Western Australia, Holders of honorary degrees, Doctor of Music, 2003. and in 2005 with an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Sydney.University of Sydney, Honorary Awards, Richard Leo Tognetti. Accessed 5 September 2019.
In 1999 Tognetti was declared a National Living Treasure, an award administered by the National Trust of Australia and based on popular vote.
On 1 January 2001, he was awarded a Centenary Medal, "for service to Australian society and the advancement of music".