Flinders Quartet: Musical Portraits

The Flinders Quartet play three musical works that evoke vivid portraits.

Dimitri Shostakovich’s incredibly powerful String Quartet No.8 was officially dedicated to the memory of the victims of fascism and war but there is much to suggest that Shostakovich meant it as a musical self-portrait. Bedřich Smetana’s String Quartet No.1 From My Life is a different type of musical portrait, taking us on a vivid, programmatic journey through young love, and the devastation of tinnitus.

In discussing these works, Flinders Quartet became curious about how a composer would capture their essence and commissioned Tasmanian composer Maria Grenfell to paint them in sound. Hear the Quartet perform their very own musical portrait for audiences and look into the musical mirror to see themselves in music.