With musical jokes and surprising turns, Haydn’s String Quartet op. 33 no. 6 perfectly showcases how the great composer earned the title the ‘father of the string quartet.’ Overflowing with joy and wit, this genre-establishing piece has delighted audiences since its premiere in 1781.

Written as a tribute to Haydn, Mozart’s String Quartet in D minor invites audiences into darker emotional territory. With its dramatic intensity and exquisite interplay between instruments, each of the four instruments contributes to a musical conversation of profound depth.

This morning’s program culminates in a celebration of Australian musicology with Australian String Quartet joining their ANAM contemporaries for Beethoven’s monumental Große Fuge. Considered ahead of its time, with one German newspaper critic describing it as “incomprehensible”, this complex work – one of music’s most thrilling adventures – is the perfect showcase of the talent among this country’s established and emerging stars.