In this, the year of the COVID-19 lockdown, in which livestreaming has become mainstream, the Australian String Quartet has reinvented its mode of presentation. In July, it launched its new platform, ASQ Live + On Demand, from which it has streamed a series of performances under the title ASQ Live at UKARIA. The ASQ’s program has ranged across musical genres and, for this concert, the Quartet returned to an old favourite, Schubert’s String Quartet No 14 in D Minor (1824), known as Death and the Maiden. The concert commenced with Matthew Hindson’s String Quartet No 3, Ngeringa, which had been commissioned for the official opening five years ago of the UKARIA Concert Hall and which was premiered there by the ASQ.

The Australian String Quartet at UKARIA. Photograph © Sam Jozeps

This concert also marked the final performance with the Quartet by its cellist, Sharon Grigoryan, who has been with ASQ for seven years, and the livestream included pre-recorded videos of many generous tributes to Grigoryan from Quartet members Dale Bartrop, Francesca Hiew and Stephen King, as well as from patrons, supporters and composers.

Hindson’s Ngeringa quartet took its name from the concert...