Melbourne Guitar Quartet (MGQ) has carved out a reputation for curating diverse programs, establishing themselves as one of Australia’s leading ensembles. Through a blend of innovative arrangements, technical flair, and superb ensemble playing, the quartet explores the vibrant world of guitar in imaginative ways, amassing praise from avid lovers of chamber music, guitar aficionados, and concert first-timers alike.

In a world premiere, Sanghoon Lee’s ‘Trigram’ is an enthralling multi-movement piece that draws upon the influence of Korean temple music. Celebrating the distinct timbres of the guitar family, this composition champions one of Melbourne’s emerging compositional voices in this spellbinding performance.

Dr Louise Devenish is a contemporary percussionist whose creative practice blends performance, collaboration, and artistic research. Dr Stuart James is an award-winning Western Australian-based composer, performer, sound designer, audio engineer, and producer. Erin Coates is a visual artist and creative producer working across film, sculptural installation and drawing.

Their performance Alluvial Gold is a work for percussion, sculptural instruments, field recordings, electronics and projection that draws audiences into the often-forgotten and changing worlds below river surfaces.

Alluvial Gold takes the histories, materials and ecology of our metropolitan rivers as a point of departure. Their performance explores the confluence of multiple narratives connected to rivers, from the phenomenological and structural aspects of river systems and water, the devastating impact of industrialisation after European colonisation, the sonic ecology and chemistry of larger river systems, and a musical language derived from transcriptions of sounds of the river system itself.

In 2021, The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) commenced a remarkable project – commissioning 67 new works for their 67 students. Each composer-student partnership embarked on an artistic adventure, creating works in partnership, a true coming together of creation and performance.

Fast forward to 2023, The ANAM Set proves its versatility with this ‘Directors Cut’, shining a spotlight on some of the works that have proven to be audience favourites, and that are well on their way to becoming repertoire staples.

ELISION is celebrated for its unique instrumentation, close and long-term artistic relationships with composers, its virtuosity and the deep commitment of its musicians to renegotiate and re-invent performance practice and technique.

Their performance in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall as part of New Music Days 2023 featured works by the inimitable Liza Lim, Mary Bellamy and Aaron Cassidy. This thought-provoking program explores pertinent environmental issues of our time, celebrating the world premiere of Aaron Cassidy’s new piano concerto.

Affinity Quartet represents the next generation of Australia’s chamber music stars, having developed its craft in Europe to critical acclaim. It brings home an inspired approach to music-making, matched by its adventurous spirit as a string quartet for and of today.

Following their recent Grand Prize win at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Affinity Quartet retured to the Primrose Potter Salon for a program featuring two seminal string quartets.

Opening with Haydn’s String Quartet Op.50, No.5 ‘Dream’, this work beautifully showcases the dance between violin, viola and cello. Beethoven’s String Quartet No.11 however, was considered an experiment on compositional techniques of the time with the composer himself rumoured to believe it too extreme for audience consumption, quoted as saying ‘[the piece] is never to be performed in public.’

Sandwiched between these two great and vastly different works is the world premiere of a piece that brings together both the progressive and popular elements of string quartet composition: Tom Misson’s Melbourne Recital Centre and the University of Melbourne commissioned Infinite Affinities.

Witness the world premiere of Brenda Gifford’s award-winning 2023 Merlyn Myer Music Commission piece, Wadhu/Skin, as it takes audiences on an immersive and thought-provoking journey through music, language, and storytelling. With a creative lineage spanning over 60,000 years, Gifford is an acclaimed composer whose music is culturally influenced by her beloved Yuin Country, the Australian environment, and its seasonal changes.

Joined by the esteemed Ensemble Offspring, this collaboration presents an authentic and poignant performance as it delves into the intricate web of human connection. Composed for flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, double bass, piano and percussion, Gifford’s vision comes to life in a dynamic and innovative concert experience. Wadhu/Skin invites listeners to explore and appreciate the depths of cultural heritage. Illuminating the interconnectedness of human experience.

Mindy Meng Wang is a versatile Chinese-Australian composer and performer, masterfully trained on the traditional Chinese instrument, the guzheng. Born and classically trained in China, Mindy studied Western Musicology in the UK before migrating to Australia. Excelling in experimental music and improvisation, she is pioneering a new sonic direction for the guzheng.

A global lockdown brought on by an unflinching, unpredictable, and isolating pandemic created a collective and universal experience: separation from friends, family, and partners. In WHEN, Mindy creates a poignant and emotional audio-visual meditation on family, memories, and life in times of great change.

With musicians Anita Quayle and Daniel Jenatsch, Mindy shares personal, undisclosed stories between her hometown of Lanzhou, Wuhan and her new home of Melbourne, humanising the profound upheaval that comes from a worldwide pandemic.

Mindy Meng Wang is a versatile Chinese/Australian composer and performer, masterfully trained on the traditional Chinese instrument, the guzheng. Born and classically trained in China, Mindy studied Western Musicology in the UK before migrating to Australia. Excelling in experimental music and improvisation, she is pioneering a new sonic direction for the guzheng.

Paul Grabowsky is a pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, with a reputation as one of Australia’s most distinguished jazz artists and renowned collaborator. He is currently a Professor at Monash University, and director of the Monash University Academy of Performing Arts and the Monash Art Ensemble.

Their performance in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall offers an intimate listening experience, exploring life and shared emotions. Mindy and Paul started collaborating in early 2021 and immediately found a special connection in music. Using the uncommon combination of guzheng and piano, the pairs melodies dance effortlessly to produce a hauntingly beautiful sound.

This recording is supported by The Peggy and Leslie Cranbourne Foundation.

Ethereal electro-folk band, Dandelion Wine combine folk and medieval instruments, haunting female vocals, electronic beats and textured guitars to create enveloping soundscapes. Their trademark tapestry of weaving ancient and modern has seen them perform in dynamic spaces from Tokyo clubs to German castles.

Their performance in the Primrose Potter Salon presents a selection of anachronistically beautiful work, melding live and recorded elements seamlessly. Blending old world and contemporary, their melodies range from enchantingly delicate to dark and powerful.

Performing works from their latest album Le Coeur and new works from the forthcoming album Hereafter with a focus on nine course lute and medieval influences, Dandelion Wine will take audiences on an intimate and otherworldly journey.

This recording is supported by The Peggy and Leslie Cranbourne Foundation.

Girma Yifrashewa is a worthy new torchbearer of African pianism. His highly personalised approach to the piano likens him to Ethiopian composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam, while his use of Ethiopian pentatonic scale within the Western Art Music format places his compositions in conversation with more academically minded work.

Girma’s performance in the Primrose Potter Salon at Melbourne Recital Centre pays tribute to the exceptional musicianship of Ethiopia through his own compositions alongside works of great classical composers Chopin, Debussy and Gottschallk.

This recording is supported by The Peggy and Leslie Cranbourne Foundation.

Antelodic is an instrumental chamber jazz trio featuring the unusual instrumentation of guitar with two saxophones. The woodwinds often perform the role of rhythm section, allowing the guitar to become the melodic voice. The trio have developed a highly nuanced approach to their creative practice that allows them to experiment in the moment while maintaining a unified ensemble sound.

Their performance in the Primrose Potter Salon at Melbourne Recital Centre presented music from their two albums ‘Quiet Sufficient’ and ‘To Iceland! To Iceland!’ alongside a premiere of Declan Postlethwaite’s Lagom, a composition commissioned by University of Melbourne and Melbourne Recital Centre.

This recording is supported by The Peggy and Leslie Cranbourne Foundation.

The Parlour focuses on the sung storytelling of Art Song and ballad, often spinning a cabaret-like narrative to bring the program together as a collection. Since their inception, unearthing the intentions behind Art Song compositions and exposing the people and events that inspired them has been part of the journey.

Interested in investigating the people hidden in footnotes of music history, The Parlour seeks to tell the stories of those who are too often ignored and forgotten. Women were both creators and enablers of art, and their stories forge a window into the intimate machinations of creative life whether that be first-hand or through observation.

Their performance in Primrose Potter Salon addresses the stark gender imbalance in art by celebrating the compositions of Australian women and telling many forgotten stories of women in what will be a uniquely moving experience.

This recording is supported by The Peggy and Leslie Cranbourne Foundation.