Classical Music

Australian Festival of Chamber Music
Jack Liebeck’s second festival is peppered with “guilty pleasures” chosen by its lineup of local and international musicians. Composer Sally Beamish and the Goldner String Quartet enjoy residencies, while musicologist and composer Stephen Johnson delivers a series of talks on everything from Messiaen to Shostakovich. Other highlights include the world premiere of a new commission by William Barton.
28 July – 6 August, various venues in Townsville, afcm.com.au

Australian Chamber Orchestra: Dvořák’s Serenade
Dvořák composed his String Serenade on a high, having just received his first Austrian state scholarship. Suk was less enamoured of the empire and its anthem, having played it ad nauseam. His response was a Meditation on the Old Czech Hymn St Wenceslas. Their works bookend an entr’acte by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, which takes us to America where Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge commissioned Bartók’s String Quartet No. 5.
4–19 August, various venues around the...