Jonathan Paget & Darlington Quartet (Music Viva Australia, and Perth Festival)

6.30pm, Sunday 20 February 2022

PERTH CONCERT HALL (5 St Georges Terrace Perth)

Performed by:  Jonathan Paget (guitar) and the Darlington Quartet: Semra Lee-Smith (violin), Zak Rowntree (violin), Sally Boud (viola), Jon Tooby (cello)

In this special program for Perth, local artists Jonathan Paget and the Darlington Quartet come together for a selection of beloved classics for guitar and string quartet.

The centrepiece is Iain Grandage’s impassioned Black Dogs, selected by Musica Viva Australia’s Artistic Director Paul Kildea for this Perth-only program. Inspired by friends who had experienced periods of mental ill health, Grandage’s work is a compelling exploration of the mind and its often-mysterious workings, with the guitar standing in for the brain.

Taking us out of the body and into nature, Christopher Sainsbury’s North Country Sketches is a series of etudes for solo guitar which the composer describes as exploring “Top End country topics” such as the Dry season, the Traditional Owner, and Gagudju. Other works to look forward to include Carulli’s Guitar Concerto, Op. 140, where guitar and string quartet prove themselves ideal partners, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s stirring Guitar Quintet Op. 143, and Imogen Holst’s Phantasy Quartet, a ruminative piece of music that plumbs great emotional depths. Selections from Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet No 4 close out the concert.

Presented by Musica Viva Australia in association with Perth Festival.

Musica Viva Australia – Jonathan Paget & Darlington Quartet

Jonathan Paget and the Darlington Quartet – Perth Festival

Tickets ($40 to $106): The Darlington Quartet | Perth Festival or Jonathan Paget & Darlington Quartet | Musica Viva Australia