Australia’s leading composer Carl Vine has wanted to write a guitar quintet ever since he first heard Karin Schaupp play, so when he received a commission for a work for her and Melbourne’s Flinders Quartet, he jumped at the chance.

The former Musica Viva Australia Artistic Director was asked by his successor Paul Kildea to write the work for Kathryn Bennett to commemorate her daughter Jennifer Bates, an architect and environmental activist who was killed aged 36 by a hit-and-run driver.

Jennifer kept a blog of the year she spent with her husband Jordi in Bhutan, working on environmental infrastructure projects. It was there that she became interested in Buddhism and the “endless knot”, a symbol of the interconnectedness of all things. Later, Jennifer kept a diary while living in Poland for a year which her mother then transcribed into a book, Eighteen: All or Nothing.

Of his work Endless, which received its world premiere on the first night of Musica Viva’s season opener, Vine said: “This composition evinces the positivity and commitment to community contribution that Jen displayed throughout her life.”

As well as being a celebration of her life’s work for the benefit of others, Endless is also a moving elegy...