Australian String Quartet Will Release New Recordings Across Several Digital Streaming Platforms

From tomorrow (Friday April 24) the ASQ will release new recordings by contemporary Australian composers and throughout 2020, across digital streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, and Youtube. During an unprecedented season of 'national hibernation', the Australian String Quartet continues to champion Australian art and music through digital realms.

The project, Australian Anthology, aims to make accessible and promote Australian music, globally, and includes new work set for imminent release by some of the country's top artists including Nigel Westlake, Dr Lou Bennett, Kate Moore, Stephen Pigram, Anne Cawrse, James Ledger, and William Barton.

Prior to its widespread release in December 2019, the ASQ's Australian Anthology recording of composer Paul Stanhope's String Quartet No. 2 had already achieved a global reach, featuring at the Venice Biennale of Art, 2019, thanks to a collaboration with visual artists James Darling and Lesley Forwood, and Jumpgate VR, Living Rocks: a Fragment of the Universe, curated by Lisa Slade and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

"Australian Anthology celebrates our great Australian composers of string quartets. Growing this collection is like breathing life into history for future generations. It is a vital part of making music, to work with living composers and present their music alongside a package of contextual and educational materials."

- Stephen King, viola Australian String Quartet

"One of the great privileges of being a national music organisation is the opportunity to support independent Australian artists by commissioning, performing, recording and promoting their work. Australian Anthology takes a long-term view at building a living musical history that seeks to produce a trove of recordings, educational materials and resources to showcase the broad and diverse artistic voices of our Australian composers." - Angelina Zucco, Chief Executive, Australian String Quartet

Release on 24 April 2020: Tempesta by Joe Chindamo

Commissioned and premiered by Sydney-based Acacia Quartet in 2013, Tempesta is Joe Chindamo's first exploration of string quartet writing. Although perhaps best-known for his work as a jazz composer and musician, Chindamo cites string quartets from Ravel and Bartok as among his greatest influences.

"Great interpreters have a knack for presenting music that is a hundred years old and making it sound is though it were composed yesterday, and imbuing new music with the gravitas of a finely matured wine. The ASQ undoubtedly belong to this elite group of performers, and I couldn't be more thrilled that they chose to lend their erudition and passion to my Tempesta - thereby creating the definitive version." - Joe Chindamo

Release schedule (subject to change)

April: Joe Chindamo Tempesta

May: DR LOU BENNETT Jaara Nyilamum

June: Kate Moore Cicadidae

July: William Barton Square Circles Beneath the Red Desert Sand

August: NIGEL WESTLAKE String Quartet no 3 Sacred Sky

September: STEPHEN PIGRAM Walganyagarra Buru

October: ANNE CAWRSE A Room of Her Own

November: Ross Edwards String Quartet no 4

December: JAMES LEDGER The Distortion Mirror

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