Turning the tide of contemporary musical aesthetics away from academic modernism, American composer John Adams’ music has played a decisive role and toward a more expansive, expressive contemporary musical language. Though misleading, Adams’ First Quartet is in fact his second for string quartet, although his first for the pure medium without any electroacoustic elements.

Embracing stylistic juxtapositions, the visceral energy of rock and whimsical humour, Holly Harrison has forged a career across Australia, Eurpoe and North America, with recent commissions from Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian String Quartet and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as well as notable contemporary ensembles Eighth Blackbird and Alarm Will Sound,

Composed just weeks before the USSR was invaded by Nazi Germany, Dimitri Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet is the composer at his most serious and purely musical. There are no distracting jokes and little melodrama, but with dark shadows lurking and gathering in the background. This quintet is the song before the storm.