String quartets by Haydn, Bach & Mendelssohn, performed by a premier ensemble on instruments of the period in an intimate setting. Hear the music brand new, as it was first made.
In the Utzon Room | Classical Music
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Priority Insiders: Tuesday 15 November, 9am
What's On Presale: Wednesday 16 November, 9am
General public on sale Tuesday 22 November, 12pm
Sunday 19 February, 5pm
Ticket | Description & price |
---|---|
Standard | Adults aged 17+ |
Premium | $125 |
A Reserve | $95 |
Concession | Senior/Pensioner card holders/Full-time students |
Premium | $115 |
A Reserve | $85 |
Child 16 & Under |
|
Premium | $115 |
A Reserve | $85 |
Prices correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection. Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times. All children must hold a valid ticket.
The only authorised agency for this event is Sydney Opera House. For more information about Authorised Agencies, see the FAQ below.
Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times, and children under the age of 12 are not required to wear a face mask.
“a top notch performance with tight ensemble work…thoroughly deserved the standing ovation”
Limelight Magazine
The stock image of a cheerful sun that decorated the first edition of Haydn’s 6 Quartets Opus 20 earned them a nickname that proved apt. Not due to their composer’s consistently cloudless disposition, but because of their central and epoch-making place in the string quartet universe.
The sixth, in A major, skirts the deep melancholy of some of its sister quartets, but beautiful shadows still flit across its bright face, which seems, like this concert, to look forward to the expressiveness of romanticism and backward to the intricacies of the baroque. In its genial-sounding finale - a rigorous three-subject fugue replete with inversions and retrogrades, no less- Joe gives the finger to those critics who were writing him off as a lightweight, and perhaps, indirectly, to Enlightenment guru Rousseau, who regarded counterpoint as a “barbaric invention”.
Haydn never encountered J S Bach’s mighty Art of Fugue, but a decade on from this quartet, at a Viennese salon for early-Early-Music-nerds, he probably heard his friend Mozart’s string arrangements of fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier. He would have marvelled at the intricate clockwork of Bach’s final statement on the subject as performed here by quartet.
Beethoven worshipped such contrapuntal tapestries and paid them homage in his final quartets. As baffling as these were to the public, another musical prodigy, Felix Mendelssohn, not only “got them”, but, aged only 18, used the formidable A minor Op. 132 as a model for his first, in the same key.
Fugue and counterpoint are embedded in this miraculously mature work, which also brims with compelling, passionate melodies. It seems to sing like an opera without words, and is haunted by a questioning musical motif (“Is it true?”) from an early song, for which Mendelssohn also wrote the lyrics:
Is it true?
That you always wait for me by the vine-draped wall?
And that with the moonlight and the little stars you consult about me also?
Three brilliant minds generate musical energy to keep the dark at bay in this richly satisfying programme.
Presented by The Australian Haydn Ensemble
AHE STRING QUARTET
Skye McIntosh, violin
Matthew Greco, violin
Karina Schmitz, viola
Daniel Yeadon, cello
ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN HAYDN ENSEMBLE
Under the direction of Artistic Director Skye McIntosh, the Australian Haydn Ensemble, are one of Australia’s leading historically informed orchestras and chamber music groups. The ensemble brings together world-class musicians who excel in both research and performance on period instruments.
These are instruments that were made and played at the time the music was composed by Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart. It can also mean an instrument that is made by a master instrument maker of more modern times, based on older instruments (perhaps now unplayable) as well as scholarship and research. The sound they make is uniquely beautiful, and often different to modern instruments.
AHE’s repertoire is principally music of the early classical era and the late baroque period (such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, C.P.E. Bach and others).
The Ensemble's name pays tribute to the great Joseph Haydn, known as 'Papa Haydn', who was a central figure of the late 18th century, also often known as the “Father of the String Quartet”.
AHE’s performances bring audiences as close as possible to the music the composers heard when they created these marvellous and enduring works.
Selected
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For detailed information about our COVID-19 safety measures and what’s required of you, please see our plan your visit page.
The Sydney Opera House no longer requires patrons to show that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Face masks are strongly recommended for all patrons while inside our theatres and foyers, including during the performance. Please bring your own mask.
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The authorised agency for this event is the Sydney Opera House.
Only tickets purchased by authorised agencies should be considered reliable. If you purchase tickets from a non-authorised agency such as Ticketmaster Resale, Viagogo, Ticketbis, eBay, Gumtree, Tickets Australia or any other unauthorised seller you risk that these tickets are fake, void or have previously been cancelled. RESALE RESTRICTION APPLIES. For more details, please refer to our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events.
Please contact Box Office on 9250 7777 as soon as possible to advise if you can no longer attend. If you can no longer attend because you are unwell, or have been in contact with someone displaying COVID-19 symptoms, the Opera House has introduced flexible ticketing options to help you, find out more information here.
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