On the collaborator bucket list of a modern composer, the name Jonny Greenwood surely features almost by default.

The Radiohead guitarist and highly esteemed composer in his own right, Greenwood has scored several film soundtracks (The Master, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Norwegian Wood, There Will Be Blood) and has collaborated with artists and orchestras from around the world. It was our own Australian Chamber Orchestra that commissioned Greenwood for his latest work ‘Water’ – and we can’t thank them enough.

The ACO’s leader and artistic director, Richard Tognetti, spoke to Matt O’Neil on Monday Lunch about the collaboration – on which the ACO worked exclusively with Greenwood. Tognetti expresses his admiration of Greenwood’s work and talks about the origins of the partnership, the creative process, complications and surfing with sharks at Palm Beach.

Listen below:

The ACO premieres Jonny Greenwood’s ‘Water’ live at Sydney Opera House along with Tognetti’s ‘Beethoven’ on November 2 and 3. Get tickets here.

More interviews in the FBi guestbook