Relativity – The Australian String Quartet, Greta Bradman And Other Friends

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) welcomes three guest artists in their final national tour for 2014, Relativity.

Award‐winning soprano Greta Bradman will join the ASQ to perform Paul Stanhope’s Sea Chronicles, a song cycle for soprano and string quartet which celebrates Australia’s unique coastal environment and the late Peter Sculthorpe’s Island Dreaming, a single‐movement work which draws together words compiled from old and modern Torres Strait Islander songs. Bradman’s performances have earned her numerous awards; she joins the ASQ after a busy year working across Australia and abroad. She recently debuted in Melbourne as Rodelinda in a concert version of Handel’s opera, conducted by Maestro Richard Bonynge, and performed the role at a recital in London for HRH Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh and friends. 

Relativity opens with Fanny Mendelssohn’s rarely heard String Quartet in E‐flat major and closes with Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in A minor op 13 in a program inspired by the spirit of adventure which infused the Mendelssohn siblings’ own private concerts in the 19th
century.

ASQ violist Stephen King and cellist Sharon Draper welcome guest violinists Adam Chalabi and Graeme Jennings to join them for Relativity following the recent departure of ASQ violinists Kristian Winther and Ioana Tache due to unforeseen circumstances.

Known for his work with Tinalley String Quartet, Adam Chalabi joins the ASQ for its Relativity tour courtesy of the University of Queensland’s School of Music where he is currently an Associate Professor of Violin. Violinist Graeme Jennings, who toured internationally as a former member of the legendary Arditti String Quartet, appears courtesy of the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University where he is Senior Lecturer in Violin and Viola.

The Australian String Quartet is Quartet‐in‐Residence at the University of Adelaide. Established in 1985, the ASQ celebrates its 30th year in 2015. Its members perform on a matched set of Guadagnini instruments, hand crafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743‐1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy, 

The programme:

Fanny Mendelssohn String Quartet in E‐flat major
Paul Stanhope Sea Chronicles*
INTERVAL
Peter Sculthorpe String Quartet No. 13 Island Dreaming
Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet in A minor, op 13

*Please note that this work replaces Brett Dean’s And once I played Ophelia, which has been
rescheduled for Australian premiere in 2015 for the ASQ’s 30th Anniversary Year.