The Australian String Quartet has announced its 2019 National Season with a program featuring brand new commissions by Australian composers Kate Moore and Nigel Westlake, alongside well-loved canon repertoire.

“Our National Season is the core of our Australian activities and the heart of what we present,” said violist Stephen King. “Each program is a small balanced cosmos in which our audiences can experience breath-taking string quartet music.”

Australian String Quartet, ASQThe Australian String Quartet: Dale Barltrop, Sharon Grigoryan, Stephen King, Francesca Hiew. Photo © Jacqui Way

The season opens in February with Haydn Winkelman Sibelius, the ASQ touring a program that sets Helena Winkelman’s Papa Haydn’s Parrot – a “wildly idiosyncratic” tribute to Haydn and the birds that inspired him – alongside Haydn’s Op. 33, No 3, String Quartet, The Bird. The program’s finale will be Sibelius’ Op. 56 String Quartet, Voces Intimae.

Moore Beethoven Brahms, which tours across May and June, opens with the world premiere of a new string quartet by Kate Moore, alongside Beethoven’s Op. 18, No 4, and Brahms’ Op. 51 No 1 quartets. This will be the Third String Quartet for Moore, who won...