With its soaring melodies and joyful trills, Ralph Vaughan Williams creates a radiant portrait of a lark in flight, trailing a silver chain of sound as it rises. ACO Collective plays this eternal favourite as the centrepiece of this uplifting program directed by ACO Principal Violin Helena Rathbone. Bound to the ground, we can only bask in its beauty. The performance spans five centuries from Henry Purcell’s ‘Fantasia Upon One Note’ to Max Richter’s cinematic ‘On the Nature of Daylight’. Continuing its commitment to fostering Australian voices, the ACO Collective will premiere a new commission by award-winning Australian composer Anne Cawrse, sought after for her appealing, approachable sound. The concert closes with Suk’s glowing ‘Serenade for Strings’. Inspired by Dvořák and Brahms, it is the sound of pure happiness. Founded in 2007 under the guidance of Rathbone, the ACO Collective offers audiences across the country the opportunity to hear Australia’s brightest young musicians in concert alongside members of the ACO.