FQ DONOR SPOTLIGHT: PETER KINGSBURY

Why Flinders Quartet?

Katherine Lee (FQ Development and Marketing Coordinator) asked long-time supporter and avid fan of our work with John Noble's Itet program Peter Kingsbury why he chooses to support FQ. We weren't expecting such a poetical and considered response which has served as a great motivator as we ramp up our activity for 2023.

The drive, innovation, and quality of the players on personal and professional levels is extremely high and the fostering of new chamber and orchestral pieces is second to none. The teaching and mentoring of the young and not-so-young musicians in the John Noble Itet program exhibit a high level of generosity. They look beyond the “What is in it for me?” perspective. FQ has an abundance of care on both a group and individual basis. They care about each other and they care about the quality of the music and mentoring.

We give because it makes us feel happy to be helping someone else. It enhances our social connectivity. It is a self-confidence builder.

You can’t stay at home in the forlorn hope that the world will beat a path to your door, so you have to put the runs on the board by touring. Unfortunately, to do this requires a conflicting sacrifice on personal and domestic levels. Whether touring Finland for the Sibelius Festival, or to Canberra to perform Katy Abbott’s “Hidden Thoughts II: Return to Sender”, requires precious time away from family and friends.

It is that same explorative and innovative spirit that leads to commissions like Calvin Bowman’s “The Curly Pyjama Letters”, based on the innocence and whimsical charm of Michael Leunig’s cartoon character. It allows you to transcend everyday cares without a thought of the huge input at the rehearsal of skill and technique in order to produce such polished timing.

The hard personal choices involved in the sacrifice may be lightened by the giving. A sharing of my recognition of the enjoyment found in the finished performance. This commonality can be found in the translation from Latin by William Hazlitt,  “I’m an Arcadian, too”.

— Peter Kingsbury