Transcend – Presented by ASQ

Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga, String Quartet no 3 in E flat major
Brett Dean, And once I played Ophelia* (Australian Premiere performances)
Schubert, String Quartet no 14 in D minor D810, Death and the Maiden
With guest artists Allison Bell, soprano and violinists Sophie Rowell and Francesca Hiew

*Co-commissioned by the Australian String Quartet, Britten Sinfonia and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festiva

To end its 30th Anniversary year, the Australian String Quartet brings life to Schubert’s masterpiece for string quartet, Death and the Maiden. Considered one of the benchmark works of the string quartet repertoire, this piece was written when the composer was facing his own mortality following serious illness. The work ends with a frenzied rush to the finish line, almost triumphant, thus ending an epic journey filled with heartache, hope, and acceptance.

Brett Dean’s, And once I played Ophelia for soprano and string quartet is full of drama, lament and Dean’s characteristic rhythmic drive and punch. Australian soprano Allison Bell joins us from Europe for this exciting and visceral work. Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga was known as the “Spanish Mozart” and his rarely heard, wonderful third quartet opens the program. Written when the composer was only 16, this work includes a highly inventive and programmatic pastorale and a musical style that seems to evoke Beethoven.

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