LISTEN TO THE LAND

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

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

PRIMROSE POTTER SALON • THU 9 JUNE, 7PM
BUY TICKETS
(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