“Shostakovich wrote his String Quintet because he wanted to go on tour with his mates,” ACO Principal Violin Satu Vänskä laughs. With members of the ACO and pianist Konstantin Shamray, she has put together a program of Shostakovich works – the Piano Quintet, as well as a selection from the 24 Preludes – accompanied by music by Valentin Silvestrov and JS Bach, for our ACO Up Close series.
As Satu says, Shostakovich was an ardent Bach disciple, and the composer said, “I play Bach every day. For us, Bach's legacy is an embodiment of flaming emotion, soulful humanity and true humanism, which stands in contrast to the dark world of raw evil and contempt for humanity.”
This ACO Up Close concert, which will also feature the incredibly beautiful and reflective music of the Ukrainian composer Silvestrov, comes at the back of the ACO’s August tour of Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony and Piano Concerto No.1 with star pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk. So “this concert is a nice way to add to the Shostakovich catalogue on top of this main tour,” Satu says. “It’s an opportunity to hear and compare his music from different eras.”
Satu also relishes giving a performance on home soil.
“It’s nice to do a concert in The Neilson,” Satu says. “I always enjoy playing concerts here. It’s a fantastic venue and it’s growing into a prominent venue in Sydney for this kind of chamber music, because of its size and acoustic.”
On top of her exploration of Shostakovich, Satu can’t wait to tour Mountain again in October, and “see what will happen in the tour with Le Gateau Chocolat!”
“Wow, it’s been 50 years of ACO!,” she reflects as she thinks about the rest of the year ahead. I remember when it was 30 years. And then 40 years… and now half a century! How does that happen?’”
Click here to discover the 2025 season of ACO Up Close.
