Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Playing in the picturesque town of Flinders in the Mornington Peninsula, Acacia Quartet continues its championship of Australian composers with the world premiere of a new quartet movement, with a title drawn from Mahler, from Acacia's long-time collaborator, Lyle Chan.

It’s all about rhythm and texture in this exciting program by Acacia Quartet. Starting with Osvaldo Golijov’s haunting Tenebrae, we are transported above the planet, seeing Earth as a beautiful blue sphere. Beautiful, pulsating textures are carefully threaded with haunting melodies. Golijov finds a way to contrast this celestial beauty with the damage and ugliness humans have inflicted on each other, and the planet itself.

Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.7 is dedicated to his first wife, written in 1960, five years after her death. Although short, the quartet shows all the emotion and heightened drama of Shostakovich’s best work — nervous energy and rapid pulses next to hypnotic lyrical passages.

Acacia has a very special relationship with composer Lyle Chan and they're very proud to present the world premiere of Andante Moderato by him, subtle, subdued and elegant.

Acacia also love to celebrate both the classic and the quirky, and now they give us Javier Alvarez’s Metro Chabacano - a dedication to one of Mexico City’s subway stations. An evocative sound world, it is characterised by a continuous eighth-note movement with short melodic solos for all instruments.

And lastly, an inspired finale with Maurice Ravel’s work, String Quartet in F. Composed in 1903 Ravel hoped the piece would both impress his composition teacher, Gabriel Fauré, and win the prestigious Rome Prize. Did he win both prize and praise?

Featured non-Australian music: Osvaldo Golijov, Shostakovich, Alvarez, Ravel

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by email to acaciaquartet@gmail.com

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• Performer Acacia Quartet