‘‘The storytelling genius of Schubert needs no introduction, and we are blessed to have one of his great native interpreters with Austrian mezzo, Sophie Rennert. Her voice is that of red velvet.

The Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini was inspired by the audacious, real-life theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum in 1911. Kudos alert: Quatuor Agate won the prize for best performance of this piece at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, and this will be the Australian premiere.

Rachel Fenlon displays an exquisite multiverse of talent (playing piano, singing and reciting her own poetry). I close the concert with Debussy’s Ariettes Oubliées (Forgotten Songs) in a special arrangement for string quartet – onomatopoeia galore. I suspect there’ll be tears, a little chuckling and even some gasps of surprise in this concert.’