We celebrate the culmination of a two-week period of coaching and collaboration with musicians of the Australian National Academy of Music with this concert at The Abbotsford Convent.

ANAM is excited to welcome the musicians of ASQ back to the Convent.

ANAM musicians begin this concert with two fascinating works by Estonian composers: Madii Marje Gildemann’s Nocturnal Migrants and Maria Kõrvits’ Through, before joining forces with the ASQ to perform Beethoven’s 13th String Quartet in B-Flat Major.

At the end of this fifty-minute masterpiece, ASQ and the ANAM string musicians will expertly navigate the challenging and awe-inspiring, Grosse Fuge, Op.133 – the final movement of the quartet initially condemned as ‘incomprehensible’, and now considered one of Beethoven’s greatest achievements. 

“Few pieces of Western music have had a more profound impact on humanity than the late Op. 130 String Quartet of Beethoven. Its original finale, the Grosse Fuge, shocked audiences of its time and continues to surprise, excite and challenge listeners to this day. Its Cavatina, one of the most profound and personal movements in Beethoven’s entire output, was selected by NASA for inclusion on the ‘Golden Record’ that was sent into outer space to reflect the depth of human expression here on planet Earth. The miracle of this great work is its power to make us ponder our existence in this world, and far beyond.” – Dale Barltrop (ASQ)

Text courtesy of ANAM