When

03 Mar

12:30pm

Access

Venue & access info here

Tickets

Adult
$49
Festival Friends
$42
Concession*
$39
Full-time student^
$25
Under 40**
$40

Transaction fees apply
* Pensioner, Health Care Card holder, MEAA/Actors’ Equity member. NOTE: Commonwealth Senior Health and Seniors Cards are ineligible for concession
** Limited capacity, ID required. If price not visible, allocation is exhausted.
^ ID required

Duration

1hr, no interval

Australia

A rare meeting of two of Australia’s finest ensembles.

Making their Adelaide Festival debut, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, under the inspired leadership of Sophie Rowell, joins the Australian String Quartet in a program rich with vivid musical exchange.

Elgar’s exuberant Introduction and Allegro for Strings opens proceedings with its vibrant interplay between solo quartet and string orchestra. In the year marking the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death, Heiliger Dankgesang (Holy Song of Thanksgiving), drawn from one of Beethoven’s profound late quartets, is a deeply personal meditation.

Adelaide composer Anne Cawrse revisits a previous John Bishop Memorial Commission, reimagining her work originally written for string quartet on a larger string orchestra canvas in Anon, from A Room of Her Own.

Finally, Matthew Hindson slips inside the delirious mind of Schubert in The Rave and the Nightingale as Schubert completes his final string quartet. As Schubert lay dying, what feverish dreams of music may have come to this master of melody had he lived in the twenty-first century?

Directed by celebrated Australian violinist and concertmaster Sophie Rowell, the MCO is Victoria’s leading professional chamber orchestra offering a fresh, vibrant and intimate take on orchestral music.

In over 70 performances each season, the orchestra brings top Australian musicians together in inspiring programs of uncompromising artistic quality, finesse, and passion.

The MCO’s mainstage season is presented at Melbourne Recital Centre and broadcast on ABC Classic. The ensemble also hosts an annual spring chamber music festival in Daylesford, as well as a range of chamber, education and outreach programs that tour extensively across Victoria and beyond.

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) is Australia’s pre-eminent organisation dedicated to string quartet music and Quartet-in-Residence at Adelaide University’s Elder Conservatorium of Music and School of Performing Arts.

Defined by excellence in performance and the joy of musical expression, the ASQ’s DNA comprises three inseparable parts. At the centre is the Quartet - four full-time musicians, each a creative force in crafting the world’s most dynamic and intimate music. Surrounding the Quartet is an innovative production company that presents, tours, records, and promotes exceptional artistry. Sustaining this, is a vital community of partners including a national Board, visionary Patron Maria Myers AC, Major Partner - Adelaide University, and Instrument Partner - UKARIA, and Government Supporters.

Together, the ASQ celebrate music from the past to the present, from near and afar, and strive to reflect contemporary Australia through their performances, collaborations, advocacy, learning programs, and development of new work. Their landmark ASQ Richard Divall Australian Music Fund, supports the ensembles ground-breaking Australian Anthology project that proudly champions the work of Australian artists. They are energised by their purpose to create chemistry and amplify intimacy through experiences that engage people across regional and metropolitan Australia and around the world.

 

Dale Barltrop plays a 1784 Guadagnini Violin, Turin

Francesca Hiew plays a 1748-49 Guadagnini Violin, Piacenza

Chris Cartlidge plays a 1783 Guadagnini Viola, Turin

Michael Dahlenburg plays a c.1743 Guadagnini Violoncello, Piacenza ‘Ngeringa'

Sophie Rowell - Artistic Director

Australian String Quartet

Dale Barltrop - violin

Francesca Hiew - violin

Christopher Cartlidge - viola

Michael Dahlenburg - cello

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra

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