ACO Up Close: William Barton and the Brodsky Quartet

The Brodsky Quartet joins Australian icon William Barton to present an enthralling program of music with a deep connection to place and people.

Barton needs no introduction: an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, longtime friend of the ACO and prolific composer who has brought his distinctive voice and deep connection to Country to concert halls all over the world. He is joined by the renowned Brodsky Quartet who have been pushing the boundaries of chamber music for five decades.  

 

This program is a delicate weave of Australian and European music, opening with the elemental, ancient sound of Barton’s yidaki followed by Purcell’s shimmering Fantasia. Janáček’s illuminating String Quartet No. 2 is an exposition on the human heart, nicknamed “Intimate Letters”. It is the sound of love, unrequited. As Janáček himself wrote, it was the fire in his soul, “set ablaze with the most beautiful melodies”. Stravinsky’s characteristic innovation shines through his Three Pieces for String Quartet, with one piece depicting a dance, the next an eccentric clown, and lastly a haunting canticle that contrasts dark and light.  

 

Peter Sculthorpe’s String Quartet No.11 is based on Aboriginal chant. An evocation of country, it’s sacred roots dance with an ever-present, joyful life force. Robert Davidson and Andrew Ford’s music also evokes a sense of place, written to capture the extraordinary Australian landscape in sound. William Barton’s evocative Square Circles closes this very special collaboration between five masters of their instruments, in the intimate surrounds of The Neilson.

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About ACO Up Close

Step into The Neilson at ACO On The Pier and enter a temple of sound. Let music speak in its own clear voice — curious, crafted, and deeply human. The ACO is thrilled to present an exceptional gathering of musicians carefully curated to reflect and extend the dynamic and explosive vision of the ACO, and to shape a musical conversation between tradition and bold imagination. 

PROGRAM
WILLAM BARTON Soundscape

HENRY PURCELL Fantasia

PETER SCULTHORPE String Quartet No.1 “Jabiru Dreaming”

ROBERT DAVIDSON Minjerribah

LEOŠ JANÁČEK String Quartet No.2 “Intimate Letters”

IGOR STRAVINSKY Three Pieces for String Quartet

SALINA FISHER Tōrino

ANDREW FORD String Quartet No.7 “Eden Ablaze”

TRADITIONAL IRISH She Moved Through the Fair

WILLAM BARTON Square Circles

Krysia Osostowicz violin

Ian Belton violin

Paul Cassidy viola

Jacqueline Thomas cello

William Barton didgeridoo