or phone Melbourne Recital Centre (03) 9699 3333

or phone Melbourne Recital Centre (03) 9699 3333

or phone Wendy Avilov 0417 798 523 between the hours of 10am & 2pm, Monday to Friday

MONTSALVAT BARN GALLERY • SUN 14 MARCH, 2.30PM
BUY TICKETS
(approx 120 min performance, including interval)

ST JOHNS SOUTHGATE • TUE 16 MARCH, 1PM
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(approx 60 min performance, plus post-concert Q&A)

PRIMROSE POTTER SALON • THUR 18 MARCH, 7PM
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(approx 120 min performance, including interval)

JAMES HENRY  New Work ^*

MARGARET SUTHERLAND  String Quartet No.1 ^

GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE  String Quartet

CLAUDE DEBUSSY  String Quartet in G minor, Op.10 ^

^ These works comprise the St Johns Southgate 60 min concert program

* World premiere, commissioned by Flinders Quartet as part of Listen to the Land

"This eclectic and fascinating program features two influential, feisty women (I'm pretty sure they had to be) and two influential men, in the case of James Henry, in our own time and place. James is our First Peoples Advisor and his rational and most definitely not woke perspective is compelling. I look forward to discovering his musical voice too.  Margaret Sutherland is Australian compositional royalty and the juxtaposition of her first quartet with the sweetly charming, twenty-years-earlier offering of her French contemporary, Germaine Tailleferre (one of Les Six and the only woman), highlights the enormous variety of early 20th century styles. Les Six (a label invented by a music critic of the time) were rebelling against the lush harmonies and textures of their famous predecessors but interestingly, Debussy himself didn't like the label Impressionist given to his music and I can see why. His quartet is rhythmic, energetic and tough when it wants to be, along with its sublime lyrical beauty."
— WILMA SMITH, VIOLIN

MONTSALVAT BARN GALLERY • SUN 6 JUNE, 2.30PM
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(approx 120 min performance, including interval)

ST JOHNS SOUTHGATE • TUE 8 JUNE, 1PM
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(approx 60 min performance, plus post-concert Q&A)

PRIMROSE POTTER SALON • THU 9 JUNE, 7PM
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(approx 120 min performance, including interval)

CHRIS SAINSBURY  New Work ^*

JESSIE LEOV  outside in ^

FELIX MENDELSSOHN  String Quartet No.1 in E-flat major, Op.12

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN  String Quartet No.9 in C major, Op.59 No.3 "Razumovsky" ^

^ These works comprise the St Johns Southgate 60 min concert program

* World premiere, commissioned by Flinders Quartet as part of Listen to the Land

"Some of my most vivid childhood memories come from the time I spent immersed in nature on our bush block in the Adelaide Hills, and the wood at the bottom of the garden at my grandparents' home in England. A visit to either place instantly transports me back to childhood. Music (and Beethoven in particular) has a special power to transport me to another place or state of mind.  Chris Sainsbury, a Dharug man, knows this territory better than most: his doctoral research looked at how a composer can draw on the motifs and imagery of a place and reconstitute them into music that deepens our connection to it. It's part of why we asked him to curate Listen to the Land. Jessie Leov's outside in explores 'place' in a very different, more intimate way. It was written for hospital patients missing the natural world and playing it genuinely feels like the outside has been let into the room. (Hence the name.)  Both Beethoven and Mendelssohn were hugely inspired by nature and place. In fact, it is famously noted that Beethoven preferred the company of trees to people! Mendelssohn travelled to rugged landscapes and painted and sketched what he experienced there. Whilst these works aren't specifically about nature, they bring us back to music's extraordinary ability to transport us. Mendelssohn's Op.12 is full of youthful energy, tenderness and breathtaking imagination. Beethoven's Op.59 No.3 takes us somewhere altogether more unexpected, with its extraordinary contrasts of intimacy, humour and sheer exuberance."
— HELEN IRELAND, VIOLA

MONTSALVAT BARN GALLERY • SUN 24 OCT, 2.30PM
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(approx 120 min performance, including interval)

ST JOHNS SOUTHGATE • TUE 26 OCT, 1PM
BUY TICKETS
(approx 60 min performance, plus post-concert Q&A)

PRIMROSE POTTER SALON • THU 28 OCT, 7PM
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(approx 120 min performance, including interval)

NARDI SIMPSON  New Work ^*

JOSEPH HAYDN  String Quartet in C major, Op.33 No.3 "The Bird" ^

MELODY EÖTVÖS  New Work **

JOHANNES BRAHMS  String Quartet No.2 in A minor, Op.51 No.2 ^

^ These works comprise the St Johns Southgate 60 min concert program

* World premiere, commissioned by Flinders Quartet as part of Listen to the Land

** World premiere, commissioned by Flinders Quartet with support from Fiona Phillips and The Ramsay Family, in memory of their mother Mrs Rosemary Hopkins (formerly Ramsay)

"A frequent topic in Quartet rehearsals is holidays and we all love to walk in beautiful landscapes that inspire and renew! As the seasons turn, we are excited to explore how the string quartet, like the land itself, continues to grow.  This program marks the beginning of our long-anticipated collaboration with Melody Eötvös: a triptych of commissioned string quartets to be unveiled over five years. We have long admired Melody's visionary voice and, upon hearing her horn trio Shivelight, recognised a shared artistic sensibility that we were eager to explore. Melody's music reaches back through time while unfolding organically, revealing new worlds of luminous colour and rhythmic vitality, shaped by an instinctive understanding of the string timbre and a deep responsiveness to the natural environment.  Indigenous storyteller Nardi Simpson also responds profoundly to Country, inviting us to hear the "feeling of the dirt between your fingers" through her music. Nature lay at the heart of Brahms' creative imagination, and many of his ideas emerged while walking the mountains and lakes of Bavaria, manuscript in hand. Haydn, too, combined his delight in birdsong with characteristic wit in The Bird quartet, reminding us that nature has long been woven into the string quartet tradition."
— ELIZABETH SELLARS, VIOLIN