Final national tour for two ASQ members

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ), from left: Sophie Rowell and Anne Horton (violins), Sally Boud (viola) and Rachel Johnston (cello).
Photo by Jacqui Way Photography.
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Wednesday, 10 August 2011

The next national tour of the Australian String Quartet (ASQ) will be the final one for two of the quartet's members, violinist Sophie Rowell and violist Sally Boud.

The tour, which runs from 19-28 September, will include special guest Sara Macliver and will feature music by Haydn, Golijov, Ravel and Respighi.

In March, Sophie Rowell and Sally Boud announced that they would depart at the end of the year.

"This tour marks the end of an era for the ASQ and I'm looking forward to what is set to be a stunning musical farewell for Sophie and Sally. It's been an incredible journey for all of us over the last five years and I feel very privileged to have been a part of it," says ASQ Executive Officer Alison Beare.

The ASQ was established in 1985 and is Quartet in Residence at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide. The Quartet has had a major impact on the musical life of Australia, touring widely both nationally and internationally and commissioning many works by leading Australian composers throughout its history.

The current membership of Sophie Rowell and Anne Horton (violins), Sally Boud (viola) and Rachel Johnston (cello) was established in 2006. In 2000, this combination of players originally came together as the Tankstream Quartet.

With a fitting title of Sunset, the September concert opens with the bright daylight of Haydn's first op.76 quartet, in the sunny key of G Major. Well-loved Australian soprano Sara Macliver joins the ASQ for Respighi's dramatic and declamatory setting of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Il tramonto (The Sunset).

Macliver describes Respighi as a great storyteller: "His music is filled with contrasts. There's a real sense of drama, with moments of great sadness, balanced by pure elation and ecstasy."

Audiences will then travel to a night world of hushed urgency and fragile ecstasy in two songs by Argentinean composer Golijov, Lua Descolorida (Colourless Moon) and How Slow the Wind.

Ravel has long been a favourite of the ASQ's and the iridescent dragonfly colours of his String Quartet in F Major, by turns darting and dreamlike, bring the concert to a virtuosic end.

The tour starts in Perth on Monday 19 September. The ASQ then performs in Adelaide on Wednesday 21, followed by Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney on 26, 27 and 28 September respectively.

ASQ is generously supported by the Government of South Australia and the Australia Council. For more information visit the website: www.asq.com.au or phone: 1800 040 444.

Tour Three: Sunset
7.00pm Wednesday 21 September
Adelaide Town Hall
Tickets: $57 adult, $43 concession, $22 student (service fees may apply)
Book at BASS: phone 131 246 or www.bass.net.au

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