Dubbed the ‘father of the string quartet’, Joseph Haydn wrote 68 quartets across six decades. One of the most important composers of the Classical period – alongside Mozart, who dedicated a set of six quartets to his ‘dearest friend’ Haydn in 1785 – Haydn set the standard for countless composers who followed. It’s a testament to his legacy that Haydn is also referred to as the ‘father of the symphony ..read more

I am thrilled to present The Storm Glass, a new composition that draws inspiration from the evocative poetry of Lisa Gorton ..read more

This piece originated as a song I wrote as a singer/songwriter (I reluctantly became a singer/songwriter because it was easier to have access to my voice and a guitar than it was a string quartet to perform my music). The lyrics were terrible, and the song never saw the light of day ..read more

Lacuna is a setting of Sappho’s ‘Fragment 96’ translated into English by the composer. The title refers to the condition of the surviving text, on a papyrus in pieces, with many missing segments and much blurring of the text. The Papyrus Berol. 9722 also includes several other poetic fragments by Sappho and a digital copy can be inspected online ..read more

This deeply personal work was born out of the processing of a significant long-term relationship coming to an end ..read more

A $4.1 million funding injection for the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) over four years ..read more

Sibelius, like Brahms, came relatively late to writing symphonies, producing his First at the age of 33 and premiering it in 1899. Like Brahms, though, Sibelius had accrued considerable experience in writing for orchestra. The 1890s saw the composition of works like Kullervo, En saga, movements which later became the Karelia suite and the original version of the Lemminkäinen Suite, which depicts heroic tales from the Finnish mythological cycle, the Kalevala ..read more

The sense of a wonder-filled journey in Toward Takayna is palpable from the opening bars, in which the gently chugging strings form the backdrop for evocations of birdsong by the woodwinds. When the guitars emerge from the orchestral undergrowth, as if singing back to the figures that have just been ‘sung” to them, their phrases are embedded on a cushion of shimmering sound, in which the harp, celeste, and multiply divided strings feature most prominently ..read more

When English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams used George Meredith’s poem ‘The Lark Ascending’ as inspiration for a new violin piece in 1914, he doubtless had no idea he was about to pen one of the most beloved and popular works of all time ..read more

Dr Mathew Trinca AM FAHA has joined the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Board of Directors following his successful decade-long tenure as head of the National Museum of Australia ..read more