Australian String Quartet: Rapture
2025-05-22 19:30 - 21:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre
Rapture pulses with a vital force through the music of Beethoven, Perica, Janáček and Golijov.
Beethoven’s String Quartet No.11 in F minor bursts forth, opening Rapture with unrivalled energy and intensity, setting the scene for a concert of remarkable contrasts.
Experience the World Premiere of Australian composer Vanessa Perica’s No Feeling is Final, a four-movement quartet drawing inspiration from the composer’s own life and all its joys, twists and turns. Janáček’s Intimate Letters then transports us to the fever dreams and passions of unrequited love before Golijov’s tender Tenebrae reminds us of the wonder and fragility of human existence.
Don’t miss Australian String Quartet’s return to Elisabeth Murdoch Hall in 2025.
Australian String Quartet
Dale Barltrop violin
Francesca Hiew violin
Chris Cartlidge viola
Michael Dahlenburg cello

Thursday 22 May 2025 – 7:00pm

Duration: 2 hours (incl. interval). Please note, running times are approximate and subject to change.

Tickets: Standard $95; Concession $75; Under 40 $40; Student $15

Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95, SeriosoVanessa Perica String Quartet No.1, No Feeling is Final – World Premiere
Commissioned by the ASQ Australian Music Fund.Leoš Janáček String Quartet No.2, Intimate Letters
Osvaldo Golijov Tenebrae for String Quartet

ASQ & Melbourne Conservatorium Students Side-by-side concert
2025-05-02 19:30 - 21:30 | Hanson Dyer Hall – Level 3 The Ian Potter Southbank Centre, 43 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC, Australia
We celebrate the culmination of a week of coaching and collaboration with the students of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with a side-by-side concert at Hanson Dyer Hall.

This concert will feature performances by students of the Melbourne Conservatorium sitting alongside the members of the Australian String Quartet.
STUDENT PERFORMERS
Violin: Dabin Huh, Phoebe Fan, Star Yi
Viola: Sebastian Coyne
Cello: Raechel Suh
Flute: Laura Dicki, Lindsay Hicks, Joo Lee Kim
Oboe: Jade Wolter
Clarinet: Sophie Allison, Jamilla Lamb, Freya Parr, Lily Tamir-Regev
Bassoon: Sam Battock, Laura Radajewski
Horn: Jacob Fenchel, Prue Russel
Trumpet: Adam Davis
Harp: Isabel Amoranto
Piano: Kevin Chow, Keke Luo
Percussion: Buddy Lovett

PROGRAM Includes chamber works by Higdon, Schreker, Arnold, Martinů, Ibert and Beethoven
Fri 02 May 2025 7.30pm
Approximately 120 minutes including interval
Hanson Dyer Hall, The Ian Potter Southbank Centre
Melbourne Turrbal Country
TICKETS: Free – SOLD OUT

Australian String Quartet – Aurora
2024-11-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, 31 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC, 3006, Australia
A sound-world shimmering with brilliance.
With a reputation as the ‘father of the string quartet’, Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in D, Op.76 No.5 opens this concert. Composed in 1797, it reflects the composer at the height of his powers in the genre. The second movement is of a particularly contemplative, otherworldly quality and a defining feature of this quartet in contrast to the upbeat nature of the surrounding three movements, including a thrillingly bright finale.
Finnish composer Olli Mustonen’s String Quartet No.1, completed in 2016, symbolises — as the composer himself says — a journey from darkness to light. It balances fervent rhythms and hymnal melodies with intertwining psychological and physical elements through the music’s textures and moods, which are said to evoke travel into fantasy worlds.
Finishing this concert is Edvard Grieg’s String Quartet No.1 in G minor, composed in 1877 — a Norwegian gem fusing Romantic melodies and folk influences. Its four movements are marked by emotional depth and nationalistic flair, and a captivating originality that makes it a celebrated work in Grieg’s output.

Monday 18 November 2024 7pm

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

Duration: 2 hours (incl. interval) Please note, running times are approximate and subject to change.

TICKETS: Standard $78 ($67 Concession); 35 & Under $35; Student $15

ASQ – Aurora
2024-10-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, 31 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC, 3006, Australia
A sound-world shimmering with brilliance.
With a reputation as the ‘father of the string quartet’, Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in D, Op.76 No.5 opens this concert. Composed in 1797, it reflects the composer at the height of his powers in the genre. The second movement is of a particularly contemplative, otherworldly quality and a defining feature of this quartet in contrast to the upbeat nature of the surrounding three movements, including a thrillingly bright finale.
Finnish composer Olli Mustonen’s String Quartet No.1, completed in 2016, symbolises — as the composer himself says — a journey from darkness to light. It balances fervent rhythms and hymnal melodies with intertwining psychological and physical elements through the music’s textures and moods, which are said to evoke travel into fantasy worlds.
Finishing this concert is Edvard Grieg’s String Quartet No.1 in G minor, composed in 1877 — a Norwegian gem fusing Romantic melodies and folk influences. Its four movements are marked by emotional depth and nationalistic flair, and a captivating originality that makes it a celebrated work in Grieg’s output.

Monday 28 October 2024 7pm

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

Duration: 2 hours (incl. interval) Please note, running times are approximate and subject to change.

TICKETS: Standard $78 ($67 Concession); 35 & Under $35; Student $15

Australian String Quartet – Vanguard
2024-07-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre
A powerful program of music that radically extends the boundaries of the string quartet.
Beethoven’s String Quartet in E-flat, Op.127, is the first of what are known as his late quartets. When premiered in 1825, it struck listeners with its innovation of expression and musical themes which transcended its time, making it a revolutionary work in the history of the string quartet. Its exploration of human emotions and musical ideas continues to resonate with audiences across generations, solidifying its relevance to this day.
For his second commission from the Australian String Quartet, composer Harry Sdraulig will produce his first full-length work, having previously composed a shorter work, Swirl, for the ensemble in 2020. Expect rich lyricism and harmony, and intricate, driving rhythms.
Moravian-born American composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s String Quartet No.2 in E-flat, written in 1933, showcases his mastery of Romanticism. Combining lush harmonies with intricate interweaving of musical voices, this quartet reveals his versatility as a composer beyond his acclaimed works for the screen. Traversing a rich tapestry of feelings, spanning longing to exuberance, it demonstrates Korngold’s position as one of the great post-Romantics.
Monday 1 July 2024 7pm
Monday 1 July 2024 7pm
Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
Duration: 2 hours (incl. interval) Please note, running times are approximate and subject to change.
TICKETS: Standard $78 ($67 Concession); 35 & Under $35; Student $15

Australian String Quartet: Florescence
2023-10-30 19:00 - 20:30 | Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre
A celebration of the string quartet across continents and contexts.
A dramatic proclamation sets the scene as Australian composer Justin Williams’ Movement for String Quartet begins this concert with an exploration of distinct and juxtaposing musical material. From twenty-first century Australia we travel to eighteenth century Austria, where Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet No.1 in B minor thrills with an impulsiveness that makes for a virtuosic and exuberant experience.
Henry Purcell’s Fantasia No.6 showcases this Baroque composer’s mastery of suspension and release in a meditative ‘fancy’ before we are whisked into the program’s celebratory finale. Antonin Dvořák’s melodically rich and festive String Quartet No.14 — the composer’s final instrumental chamber work—brims with inventive interplay and influences from the composer’s experiences abroad and connection to his Bohemian homeland’s folk traditions.

Monday 30 October 2023, 7pm MRC, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
Duration: 1 hour 30 mins (incl. interval) Please note, running times are approximate and subject to change.

TICKETS: Standard $78 ($67 Concession); Student & Under 30 $33

Australian String Quartet: Utopias
2023-05-15 19:00 - 20:40 | Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, 31 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC, 3006, Australia
Enter worlds of fantastical visions, intimate revelation, and quiet hope for the spirit of mankind.
Vanishing visions of the idyll — a Utopian world of natural splendour, aquatic and pastoral — are conjured by an intricate and highly original string soundscape from Thomas Adès, titled Arcadiana. Following this is Mozart’s String Quartet in D minor — intensely personal in its expression, moments of intimately sublime sorrow give way to bursts of playful radiance, in only the way Mozart can achieve.
Finishing this concert is a work that provides an outward lens to the inner world of a composer balancing a delicate and dangerous relationship with political powers. Dedicated to his third wife Irena, Dimitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.9 is defined by its introspective whisperings, caressing melodies, and dramatic edge-of-your-seat rhythmic bite.

Monday 15 May 2023 7pm; Elisabeth Murdoch Hall; Duration: 1 hour 40 mins (incl. interval)

TICKETS: Standard $78 ($67 Concession); Student & Under 30: $33

ASQ in Concert: Symonds Beethoven
2022-10-31 19:00 - 20:30 | Melbourne Recital Centre, 31 Sturt St, Southbank, VIC, 3006, Australia
liaBe swept away by music from contemporary Australian composer Jack Symonds and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Jack Symonds’ String Quartet No.2 whispers into existence, interrupting the intangible build-up of concert expectancy with an ascending violin line that is the very genesis of this spectacular work. Over its unique two-part structure Symonds skilfully unravels the DNA of that opening statement, sweeping the listener up in a display of virtuosity, contrasts and textures that bounce off and reflect each other. This piece brilliantly showcases the string quartet through its wide-ranging breadth of expression and extremes of colour.
Schubert famously remarked of Beethoven’s Op.131, that ‘after this, what is there left for us to write?’ Of the quartets he produced at his full maturity, Beethoven was said to treasure this one as his favourite. Seven movements are performed without break, ranging from richly harmonic, slow and layered to comically light-hearted and absurd, taking the listener into a deeply intimate world. From darkness to light, from solitude to ecstasy, the sheer impact of this epic journey might only be realised long after its final notes have faded.

Monday 31 October 2022 7pm; MRC Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
Duration: 1 hour 30 mins (incl. interval)

Tickets: Standard $70 ($60 Concession); Student & Under 30: $30

ASQ in Concert: Britten Paterson Beethoven
2022-04-26 19:00 - 20:10 | Melbourne Recital Centre, Southbank Boulevard, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia
Program
Benjamin Britten
Three Divertimenti
David Paterson
String Quartet No.1 (Melbourne premiere)*
Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet in C, Op.59 No.3, ‘Razumovsky’
*commissioned by the Australian String Quartet with the generous support of Michael Rowe and Bernard Ryan in celebration of the birthday of Patricia Davidson
About the concert
Britten’s Three Divertimenti for String Quartet opens this concert with a flourish of colour. At times reflective and at times brooding, this sharp, brilliant set of three short character pieces showcases a breadth of musical tone and texture from the Quartet.
Following the Britten will be the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the ASQ from Australian composer David Paterson. This is Paterson’s third commission for the ensemble, having also produced two other works, Quartettsätze and Scherzo, in 2016 and 2020 respectively.
Finishing this program is Beethoven’s third and final Razumovsky quartet, fondly nicknamed the Eroica (Heroic). Considered by many as one of Beethoven’s most radiant compositions, its bustling and triumphant final movement is what has earned it its nickname. As this concert began, so too shall it finish with a display of technical mastery from the ASQ in this playfully interweaving and uplifting finale.

Tuesday 26 April 2022 7pm

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

Duration: 1 hour 10 mins (no interval)

TICKETS

Standard $70 ($60 Concession)

Australian String Quartet: Speechless
2014-05-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Melbourne Recital Centre
After Mozart’s death, Peter Lichtenthal distilled his idol’s Requiem into a wordless, pristine string quartet masterwork, transforming it from profoundly religious into a beautiful, abstract work of art.
Berg’s Lyric Suite is a similar song without words; there are quotes from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde and Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, and the last movement is a secret wordless setting of a poem by Baudelaire. It’s a work borne of a doomed love affair, set against the backdrop of a fin de siecle Vienna.
At the heart of any Schubert work is song, and it is with his frantically scurrying and carefree singing Quartettsatz that we open this program; an unfinished work that somehow feels as if nothing more could be said.
The Australian String Quartet members are Kristian Winther, violin, Ioana Tache, violin, Stephen King, viola, Sharon Draper, cello
