Australian String Quartet Mark Ausmusic Month With Eleven New Releases

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) celebrates Ausmusic Month in a big way this November with a slew of new releases and live performances championing Australian composers. Encompassing a national concert tour and a new CD release through ABC Classic, as well as publishing eight new recordings into its Australian Anthology catalogue and two new ASQ On Tour webisodes - all celebrating contemporary Australian music - the ASQ shines the spotlight on homegrown musical talent. Commissioned during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ASQ will release its eight recordings of 'encore' works by Australian composers David Paterson, Kate Neal, Sebastian Collen, Holly Harrison, Joe Chindamo, Alice Chance, Harry Sdraulig and Matt Laing. Since their commission, the ASQ has performed these miniature works in programs across the country to great acclaim.

"The ASQ are simply awesome, and they've done so much for Australian music over the years. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to write for them!" Harry Sdraulig, composer

"I love encores in concerts because it is a time when none of the usual rules apply, on or off stage. It was a pleasure to join with the ASQ in creating my raucous offering of a way to fill that space." Alice Chance, composer

"It's great to see ASQ commissioning a bunch of short works - I'm delighted to have Swoop included, along with my peers Harry and Alice! Encore is an awesome initiative that adds bite-sized works to the Australian string quartet repertoire. I hope that other quartets will discover the pieces and spread Australian sounds around the country and globe. This commission came just at the right time in 2020, when pandemic lockdowns were keeping us all in our homes. As a result, I became a bit obsessed with a crow family outside my window and they ended up inspiring the piece!" Holly Harrison, composer

These works will be available to stream via the Quartet's 'Australian Anthology' catalogue and accessible through all major streaming platforms, with a plan to release two new works every week throughout Ausmusic Month. These releases follow ABC Classic's October 28 physical CD release of the ASQ's studio recordings of three quartets composed by celebrated Sydney-based composer Paul Stanhope, completed between 2019-2022. "It's a composer's dream to have a compilation of string quartets released as a commercial recording. And when the performances are a splendid as these, a composer is in seventh heaven! I've enjoyed a very fruitful collaborative working relationship with the wonderful members of the ASQ. I find they bring great creative solutions to the process of bringing to life new music, and pursue technical perfection and an energetic passion to the playing of today's music. This is an inspiring combination." Paul Stanhope, composer
The ASQ continues its digital output in November by releasing the final two episodes of its ASQ On Tour webseries, made possible by the Federal Government's RISE Fund and Arts South Australia's Arts Recovery Fund, following the musicians of the ASQ as they travel the country.

The upcoming Sydney and Darwin-based episodes feature live-filmed musical performances of music by Australian composers Jack Symonds and David Paterson. Off the back of the ASQ's critically acclaimed Adelaide concert of its Symonds Beethoven program, the Quartet continues a four-city tour pairing Beethoven's revolutionary Op.131 from his late quartets with a virtuosic new work from Jack Symonds commissioned by the ASQ through their Richard Divall Australian Music Fund.

"An important part of our role as ASQ is to seek out, encourage, and champion Australian composers; we cannot be the string quartet of "Oz" without giving voice to the incredibly rich and diverse talents of so many composers. It is truly heartwarming to see that Oz Music Month will celebrate so fully the virtuosic talents of the uniquely Australian voice, in all of its varied and beautiful ways!" - Michael Dahlenburg, ASQ Cello.

To find out more about the quartet's commitment to Australian music and AusMusic Month activities visit: https://asq.com.au

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