2025 dates, venues and times
PC #1 American Dreams: 21 - 23 March 2025
American Dreams
Mark O’Connor – String Quartet no 3 ‘Old Time’
Antonin Dvořák – String Quartet no 12 ‘American’
Fresh from their Sydney Opera House debut, PCQ present a program of music inspired by American folk music. Dvořák’s well-loved ‘American Quartet’, written in Iowa on the basis of his experiences in the New World, is complemented by some updated takes on American traditional music. Bluegrass fiddler Mark O’Connor’s crossover ‘Old Time’ string quartet showcases elements of Appalachian folk music, with driving rhythms and Copland-esque stylings.
Programme Notes: Click Here
phoenix collective with zen zeng @ wesley music centre, canberra
Inner Worlds (with Zen Zeng)
Giovanni Sollima – Sonnets et Rondeaux
Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartet no 8
Robert Schumann – Piano Quintet
For this special concert, Phoenix Collective Quartet joins forces with star pianist Zen Zeng to present a program exploring inner worlds mapped and shared through sound. The centrepiece of the program is Schumann’s epic piano quintet, composed with his beloved wife Clara in mind. Written at a creative high point in Schumann’s life, the work also contains hints of his internal mental struggle.
The journey into emotional interior worlds continues with Shostakovich’s intensely personal String Quartet no 8; the bleak compositional landscape littered with the composer’s incantatory musical graffiti tag of D-S-C-H hints at his troubled psyche. Rockstar Italian cellist Giovanni Sollima’s whimsical tribute to an imagined folk style, the light-hearted Sonnets et Rondeaux will introduce this dynamic program of contrasts.
PHOENIX COLLECTIVE with ZEN ZENG @ TEMPO RUBATO, MELBOURNE
Inner Worlds (with Zen Zeng)
Giovanni Sollima – Sonnets et Rondeaux
Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartet no 8
Robert Schumann – Piano Quintet
For this special concert, Phoenix Collective Quartet joins forces with star pianist Zen Zeng to present a program exploring inner worlds mapped and shared through sound. The centrepiece of the program is Schumann’s epic piano quintet, composed with his beloved wife Clara in mind. Written at a creative high point in Schumann’s life, the work also contains hints of his internal mental struggle.
The journey into emotional interior worlds continues with Shostakovich’s intensely personal String Quartet no 8; the bleak compositional landscape littered with the composer’s incantatory musical graffiti tag of D-S-C-H hints at his troubled psyche. Rockstar Italian cellist Giovanni Sollima’s whimsical tribute to an imagined folk style, the light-hearted Sonnets et Rondeaux will introduce this dynamic program of contrasts.
PC #2 French Connection:
Wesley Uniting Church 13 June 2025, 7pm
Hunter Baillie 14 June 2025, 2pm
Robert Knox CCC 15 June 2025, 2pm
French Connection
Chevalier de Saint-Georges – String Quartet
Guillaume Connesson – String Quartet no 1
Maurice Ravel – String Quartet
French chamber music has long been lauded for its complexity and sophistication, and nowhere is this better exemplified than in Ravel’s masterly string quartet. In this concert, PCQ pairs the Ravel with the work of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a darling of the eighteenth-century French court whose eventful life recently became the subject of the movie Chevalier. The first string quartet of Guillaume Connesson, a modern-day inheritor of Ravel’s nuanced style, completes the program.
PC #3 Bella Italia:
Wesley Uniting Church 15 August 2025, 7pm
Hunter Baillie 16 August 2025, 2pm
Robert Knox CCC 17 August 2025, 2pm
Bella Italia
Luigi Boccherini – String Quartet op 30 no 4
Giuseppe Verdi – String Quartet
Giovanni Sollima – ‘Viaggio in Italia’
PCQ present a program showcasing three different facets of Italy’s rich musical tradition, ranging from the elegance of virtuoso cellist Boccherini’s early quartet to Verdi’s glorious melodies and concluding with Giovanni Sollima’s nostalgic depictions of Italian life. The rarely played Verdi string quartet was the only chamber work written by the composer, and its lush operatic style represents Verdi at the peak of his compositional prowess. Extended cello techniques are the common element between the Boccherini and Sollima works, with each composer featuring the instrument in his own unique style.
PC #4 At The Grave Of Beethoven:
All Saints Ainslie 28 November 2025, 7pm
Hunter Baillie 29 November 2025, 2pm
Robert Knox CCC 30 November 2025, 2pm
At the Grave of Beethoven
Karen Tanaka – ‘At the Grave of Beethoven’
Leoš Janáček – String Quartet no 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’
Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet no 3
Works inspired by Beethoven, the titan of string quartet composition, are featured in the final program of the year. Japanese composer Karen Tanaka pays tribute to his influence in her thoughtful work ‘At the Grave of Beethoven’, referencing material from Beethoven’s String Quartet no 3 in particular. Czech composer Janáček’s impassioned quartet also has its origin in Beethoven’s work at one remove, taking as its inspiration Tolstoy’s angst-ridden story The Kreutzer Sonata.
