Warm greetings from your Brooklyn Rider friends. We had a deeply memorable visit in February of 2024, inspired by the beauty of this land, the incredible shrine to music which is UKARIA, and the absolutely lovely audiences. So, we were delighted to be asked to curate Chamberfest 25!

This platform of five concerts is especially exciting to us because it gives us a chance to share a range of our many interests, and at an auspicious time; we are celebrating twenty years together this 2025/26 season! For one, we love taking a wide lens to the beautiful historic string quartet tradition – so you will hear core repertory works from Haydn, Beethoven, Bach, and Schoenberg. But also a diverse range of topical works from our lifetime, many of which are recent Brooklyn Rider commissions (and including numerous works by Australian composers). We also seek to convene conversations through the programmatic enterprise. So – we take a lens to democracy and citizenship, we visit the unique pre-WW1 world of Der Blaue Reiter (our namesake), and we celebrate healing and music in a special Saturday evening musical meditation.

Last, but not least, we also thrive on collaborations! So we have invited some amazing friends including the riveting soprano Ariadne Greif and Australian-born dancers Melissa Toogood and Fiona Jopp. Lastly, we are so excited to work with a young string quartet from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) for a romp of a finale, ending with a fiery trip to the sun!

See you in October,

Brooklyn Rider
Johnny Gandelsman, Colin Jacobsen, Nicholas Cords and Michael Nicolas

Johnny Gandelsman | Violin

Colin Jacobsen | Violin

Nicholas Cords | Viola

Michael Nicolas | Cello

Ariadne Greif | Soprano

Melissa Toogood | Dancer and Choreographer

Fiona Jopp | Dancer and Collaborator

ANAM String Quartet

Olivia Kowalik | Violin

Jasmine Milton | Violin

Hanna Wallace | Viola

Max Zhenxiang Wung | Cello