Austrian composer Joseph Haydn is often called the ‘Father of the Symphony’ and he has also made an enormous contribution to string quartet writing. As for his relationship with Beethoven, whose work is also explored this evening, Haydn would have been an inspiration for the young German composer, but perhaps the contemporaries were also in competition when it came to dramatics and dynamics.

A modern riffing on all this came from Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning American composer Caroline Shaw. Your interpreters of Haydn, Beethoven and Shaw this evening are a string quartet from the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, led by Artistic Director and violinist Sophie Rowell.