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 this 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.