- Richard Tognetti was born in 1970 in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. He is a composer and actor, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), River (2021) and The Water Diviner (2014).
- Peter Weir, director of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) is a patron of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
- Russell Crowe described him as "the most magnificent violinist Australia has produced".
- Richard Tognetti claimed that Russell Crowe had great concentration and made fast progress on the violin. Russell disagreed, saying he was still having trouble playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"!
- Performs on a 1759 JB Guadagnini violin. The violin was purchased by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for its Fine Art collection and has been lent to Richard Tognetti on a semi-permanent basis.
- Was made an Australian "National Living Treasure" in 1999.
- [on the fact the Australian Chamber Orchestra always stands to perform] "It's better for us to stand for a start. You get more life out of the musicians if they are standing, they play more like soloists."
- "I compose a little, in the modern genre".
- It is hard to play the violin, it is one of the hardest things you can do... It's like learning a Chinese dialect.
- I have memories of when I was about two of listening to music and I felt embodied by it ... I felt connected, totally, with it ... music is my addiction. My obsession. More that that, music offers me - and I think a lot of people - a connection with who we are and what we are, albeit in a very abstract way.
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