Works for Piano Quartet - Mozart, Strauss, Bridge

Works for Piano Quartet - Mozart, Strauss, Bridge

Join us at the Independent Theatre for an evening of chamber music masterpieces performed by internationally-acclaimed Sydney-based musicians Emma Jezek (violin), Andrew Jezek (viola), Andrew Hines (cello), and Hank Xiang (piano).

Hear Mozart’s Piano Quartet no.1 in G minor, a bold and brilliant work once criticised by Mozart’s publisher for being too difficult for the performers; now a beloved staple in the chamber music repertoire. The program is paired with the sole Piano Quartet of Richard Strauss, a colossal piece painted with the lush, and complex colours of late German Romanticism. These echoes of late Romanticism can be found in the curious ‘Phantasy’ for Piano Quartet by English composer Frank Bridge, compressing several imaginative motifs into a compact one-movement form.

PROGRAM

FRANK BRIDGE

Phantasy for Piano Quartet H.94 (1910)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Piano Quartet no.1 in G minor K478 (1785)

I.               Allegro

II.              Andante

III.             Rondo (Allegro Moderato)

INTERVAL (15mins)

RICHARD STRAUSS

Piano Quartet in C minor, op. 13 (1885)

I.               Allegro

II.              Scherzo: Presto

III.             Andante

IV.            Finale: Vivace

About the Musicians

Emma Jezek is currently the Assistant Principal 2nd Violin at the Sydney Symphony, a position she has held since 1997. She spent two years there in the role of acting Principal 2nd. Her first professional position was in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She has also played with the Australian World Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Klangforum Wien, as well as other leading orchestras around Australia.

Andrew Jezek was co-principal viola in the renowned Viennese contemporary music ensemble Klangforum Wien from 1996 to 2013, and has performed at most major contemporary music festivals in Europe. In 2013, Andrew relocated to Sydney and now performs regularly with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Australian Chamber Orchestra, and as guest principal viola with the Australian and Opera Ballet Orchestra and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. He is also a member of the Australian World Orchestra. Andrew has been a member of the Sydney Art Quartet since 2019, and Co-Artistic Director since 2023.

Andrew Hines is an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music. Upon graduating, he was a member of the Medea Quartet, who were Quartet in Residence at York University and Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music. The quartet performed extensively throughout Britain and Europe until 1997. Currently, Andrew is the cellist of the Sydney Art Quartet. In 2000, Andrew was appointed to a position with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (now Opera Australia Orchestra). After a brief twenty-three year stint, Andrew resigned from his position to be able to enjoy freelance work and gardening.

Hank Xiang graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium, studying with Dr Paul Rickard-Ford. He pursued further studies at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory in the class of the late Nina Seryogina. He won the Kawai Piano Award of the Sydney Eisteddfod in 2011, and was the third-prize winner of the 2019 Maria Yudina International Piano Competition in Russia, and has made appearances in the Lev Vlassenko competition of 2015, and the Australian National Piano Award of 2018. Since returning to Sydney full-time in 2019, Hank has established his own teaching and accompaniment studio. He continues to perform regularly, with particular fondness for chamber music.