The Flinders Quartet (FQ) has announced a new partnership with composer Melody Eötvös. Over five years, FQ will commission The Eötvös Cycle, three new major string works from the Melbourne-based composer, which will be given their world premieres between 2027 and 2031.

Melody Eötvös. Photo © Grant Heger

By establishing a long-term creative collaboration with a single composer, FQ hopes to foster a deeper relationship that allows “ideas to deepen, risks to be taken and the expressive possibilities of the quartet medium to be fully explored”.

The initiative draws inspiration from the relationships between Beethoven and Ignaz Schuppanzigh’s quartet, as well as Shostakovich and the Beethoven Quartet; both composers wrote cycles of 15 quartets from within these close, long-term relationships.

“I’m so excited for this opportunity to work with the Flinders Quartet across a five-year span, in what will no doubt be a transformative experience for my compositional voice and the development of my string quartet writing,” said Eötvös.

“Having sustained growth and evolution alongside an ensemble of this calibre is a precious gift, and I’m so honoured to have been chosen by these wonderful musicians, whom I look forward to getting to know even better. I am profoundly ready for the creative and artistic adventure this will be. And if 15 quartets are on the table, I’m there too!”

Flinders Quartet. Photo © Agatha Yim

The Eötvös Cycle is another project initiated by FQ to nurture the development of string quartets by Australian composers. Its Emerge and Ascend composer programs offer training and the commission of new works from both emerging and established composers, while its new Listen to the Land project commissions First Nations composers to create new string quartet works inspired by Country.

FQ’s 2026 season will also see the premiere of Eric Avery’s Wirringintungiyil and a new work by Naomi Dodd.

“We have worked with Melody on numerous occasions and have been consistently struck by the depth, clarity and humanity of her musical thinking. Her voice is distinctive and uncompromising – intellectually rigorous, emotionally resonant and deeply attuned to the world we are living in,” said FQ Artistic Director and cellist Zoe Knighton.

“In conceiving The Eötvös Cycle, we are creating the conditions for something rare: a body of work that can evolve over time through trust, shared language and artistic risk. We believe these three quartets will meaningfully extend the string quartet tradition and take their place as significant contributions to the repertoire.”

More about the Flinders Quartet can be found here.