The greatest musical creators look to the past, speak to the present and challenge the future. In this concert, ACO Up Close returns with a quartet of musicians, following the legacies of Bach and Haydn into our own century. Running through the program are moving stories of music left unfinished and challenges handed to future generations. 

Joseph Haydn, father of the string quartet as we know it, was writing quartets until his strength was gone. Not that you could tell from the brilliant and vital Op.103, which stands at the heart of the program. From Haydn we look back to the expressive and conversational style of Henry Purcell and the intricate musical tapestries of J.S. Bach – master of the fugue. 

Jumping to our own time and living memory… Grażyna Bacewicz, composing in 1950s Poland, built on the clarity and drama of Haydn’s classical model while borrowing techniques from Bach. And Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho captured the original intimate spirit of chamber music when she began Botanique – part of a tender musical dialogue between a mother and her violin-playing daughter.

PROGRAM

Henry Purcell Sonata in F major “Golden Sonata”
Kaija Saariaho Botanique: Movements I, II & III
Johann Sebastian Bach The Art of Fugue, BWV1080: Chorale “Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit”
Joseph Haydn String Quartet in D minor, Op.103
Grażyna Bacewicz String Quartet No.4

We asked four of Australia’s most celebrated classical ensembles and artists to respond to the theme “birth, destiny and what we leave behind” – inspired by Visual Artist in Residence Telly Tuita and his Tongan heritage. Explore the Resonance program here.

"The finest chamber orchestra on Earth"

– The Telegraph

An orchestra that, by any standards, is one of the wonders of the musical world today."

– The Guardian UK