The Australian String Quartet launches its 2026 touring season this week in Perth. It does so with a program that places a young Australian composer in conversation with some of the towering figures of the string quartet tradition.

Interwoven pairs Elizabeth Younan’s String Quartet No. 1 with works by Joseph Haydn, Sergei Prokofiev and Clara Schumann in a program exploring connection, communication and musical storytelling. 

For Younan, now completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Juilliard School in New York, the tour marks an important milestone for a work that began nearly a decade ago as part of a university composition assignment.

Elizabeth Younan. Portrait supplied

“The first movement of Interwoven was composed in 2016 as part of the Composing Women program at the Sydney Conservatorium,” Younan tells Limelight. “It feels slightly surreal to think back and remember that it began as a university requirement … and now it is touring the country.” 

The Sydney Conservatorium’s Composing Women initiative was established to address the under-representation of women composers in classical music. Younan was part of the first cohort in 2016-17, working alongside performers including the Goldner String Quartet, for...