Quartetthaus.

I have just managed to squeeze in two last events before the Melbourne Arts Festival concluded.

Provocateur: The Rebellious Text. The final in a series of rehearsed readings of radical and politically inspired modern playwrights. The '7 Stages of Grieving' featuring Wesley Enngoch, presented an Indigenous woman's experience of grief, lose and "that feeling of... of nothing... just nothing".

Then Quartetthaus.

For the benign passer by, the Quartetthaus venue situated outside the Malthouse, Chunky Moves and ACCA courtyard in Southbank looked like a contemporary art installation. Or simply a featureless wooden crate. Inside, however the atmosphere was instantly captivating, intriguing and suspenseful. As black theatrical curtains slowly shifted, the audience eagerly entered the arena and sat in an intimate circle around a slowly moving central stage, inches away from the string quartet.The whole experience created an engaging rapport with the three memorable ensembles and the students from the Australian National Academy of Music. The most heart stirring piece for me was Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957): String Quartet in D minor, op. 56 "Voces intimae".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA5dl88BM30

Interviews with the musicians from Quartetthaus.
http://vimeo.com/29761921
http://vimeo.com/29994035