A world premiere of a new string quartet based upon Beethoven鈥檚 musical sketches and a European premiere of a major Australian art exhibition headline the autumn season at The Arts Institute.
With a theme of 鈥榮torytelling鈥 running through the cultural programme, spanning music, film, performance, talks and exhibition, the season will welcome back live audiences to venues at the 麻豆传媒 after 18 months of predominantly online events.
It opens in earnest on 30 September with a three-day celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, comprising live performances and thought-provoking lectures. A major feature will be the new piece based upon Beethoven鈥檚 sketches for Op.135. Composer Jonathan Dawe has been commissioned to compose the piece, which will be performed live on 2 October, by the Ruisi Quartet, winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society for Young British String Players.
"Much of Beethoven鈥檚 music was revolutionary,鈥
says Dr Robert Taub, Director of Music at The Arts Institute and a world-renowned expert on Beethoven.
鈥淚t sounds new and innovative today if we immerse ourselves in understanding how his music was created and why, and then play his works as if the ink is barely dry on the pages. That is what we will do during the festival, and in the case of Jonathan Dawe鈥檚 work, we will be unveiling something genuinely new and groundbreaking.鈥
Beethoven: Innovator 鈥 a 250th Celebration will open with a public lecture and music demonstration by Jonathan and Robert on 30 September. The following night, Robert will perform three of Beethoven鈥檚 pivotal Piano Sonatas: the adventurous Op.2, no.1 (Beethoven鈥檚 first Piano Sonata); the heroic Op.53 鈥榃aldstein鈥 (the first Sonata he composed following his admission that he was facing the onset of deafness); and his final transcendent Sonata, Op.111.