BEETHOVEN / MACONCHY

PROGRAM • 60 mins no interval

ELIZABETH MACONCHY String Quartet No. 5
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1

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PRIMROSE POTTER SALON • TUESDAY 25 JULY, 1PM & 6PM

FQ DIGITAL • PREMIERING WEDNESDAY 9 AUGUST, 7.30PM and then available for on-demand viewing
12-MONTH SUBSCRIPTION to view all of FQ’s 2023 digital concerts

MID-WINTER AT MONTSALVAT

PROGRAM • full length concert, with interval

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1
ELIZABETH MACONCHY String Quartet No. 5
FELIX MENDELSSOHN String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 with Strike a Chord FQ Mentorship Prize winners

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MONTSALVAT UPPER GALLERY • SUNDAY 23 JULY, 2.30PM SOLD OUT

“I was introduced to the music of Elizabeth Maconchy in 1985 while a member of the Lydian Quartet. That year, we competed in the Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition (now the Wigmore) and Maconchy’s 13th string quartet was the commissioned set work. It was challenging and rewarding. More recently, I listened to recordings of all of her earlier quartets and realised what a sophisticated and classy composer she was. She admired and studied the masters who had gone before and I’m sure she would be chuffed that a 21st century Australian quartet found her rigorous compositional style to be an excellent fit with that of the great master himself. The chance to play one of Beethoven’s incomparable Op. 59 “Razumovsky” quartets, named after their commissioner, Count Razumovsky, the Russian Ambassador in Vienna, is something akin to a religious experience for quartet players, such is the consummate artistry of Beethoven in his middle period. I’m excited to pair Maconchy’s Quartet No. 5 with Beethoven’s Opus 59. No. 1 and to see what the experience of each brings to the other.”

WILMA SMITH, VIOLIN

NATSUKO YOSHIMOTO • Guest Violinist

Born in Japan, Natsuko Yoshimoto began playing the violin at the age of three. She has studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Royal Northern College of Music in England and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She has won awards in international competitions including the Gold Medal in both the prestigious 1994 Shell/London Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa Award and the Iwaki Award for outstanding achievement as a Japanese artist.

Natsuko is currently co-Concertmaster of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and is also a member of highly acclaimed chamber group, Ensemble Q. She has been the leader of both the Australian String Quartet and the Grainger Quartet as well as the Concertmaster of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Natsuko regularly appears in major chamber music festivals and is a teacher at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. She has given many world premieres of works by Australia’s most prominent composers and has recorded for Virgin Classics, ABC Classics, Melba Records and Tall Poppies. In her little spare time she loves to do pottery!