ANNE CAWRSE A Room of Her Own (World Premiere) *
BARTÓK String Quartet no 4
DVOŘÁK Piano Quintet in A major op 81 featuring guest artist Konstantin Shamray

Reflecting on Virginia Woolf’s seminal text, A Room of One’s Own, Australian composer Anne Cawrse’s new commission is an intimate and personal exploration of what it is to be a woman composer in the 21st century. Soundscapes of bowed percussion and strings speak to the fragility of ideas and the blossoming of creativity, while reflecting on the silent voices of the past.

The spirit of breaking ground continues through Béla Bartók’s String Quartet no 4. Visceral and haunting, his unique voice mines the soul, arousing absolute terror one moment and rich warmth the next. Joined by pianist Konstantin Shamray, we close the program with the spring-like optimism of Antonin Dvořák’s Piano Quintet. Symphonic in texture, Dvořák’s folk-inspired tunes radiate warmth, vitality and love, from the cello’s opening melody to the very last bar.

*Commissioned for the Australian String Quartet by the Elder Conservatorium of Music with support of the John Bishop Memorial Commission