MOSSO | Fiona Hill Portrait

The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) is Australia’s pre-eminent organisation dedicated to string quartet music and Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music.

Defined by excellence in performance and the joy of musical expression, the ASQ’s DNA comprises three inseparable parts. At the centre is the Quartet – four full-time musicians, each a creative force in crafting the world’s most dynamic and intimate music. Surrounding the Quartet is an innovative production company that presents, tours, records, and promotes exceptional artistry. Sustaining this, is a vital community of partners including a national Board, visionary Patron – Maria Myers AC, Major Partner – The University of Adelaide, Instrument Partner – UKARIA and Government Supporters.

Together, the ASQ celebrate music from the past to the present, from near and afar, and strive to reflect contemporary Australia through their performances, collaborations, advocacy, learning programs, and development of new work. Their landmark ASQ Australian Music Fund, supports the ensemble’s ground-breaking Australian Anthology project that proudly champions the work of Australian artists.

In their 40th year, they are energised by their purpose to create chemistry and amplify intimacy through experiences that engage people across regional and metropolitan Australia and around the world.

Dale Barltrop plays a 1784 Guadagnini Violin, Turin
Francesca Hiew plays a 1748-49 Guadagnini Violin, Piacenza
Chris Cartlidge plays a 1783 Guadagnini Viola, Turin
Michael Dahlenburg plays a c.1743 Guadagnini Violoncello, Piacenza ‘Ngeringa’

Photo credit: Laura Manariti

Australian-French saxophonist and composer Joshua Hyde is internationally recognised for a practice that moves fluidly between solo performance, collaborative creation and interdisciplinary work. His repertoire spans historical transcriptions to the most demanding contemporary music, with a particular focus on projects that redefine the role of the performer in new music contexts. Hyde appears internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, working closely with leading composers and ensembles across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. A member of the Australian ensemble Elision since 2016 and a long-standing collaborator with Musikfabrik, he is also regularly invited by ensembles including Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien and Ensemble Nadar. Alongside his work as an interpreter of contemporary repertoire, Hyde maintains a strong profile as a creator-performer. His projects frequently integrate electronics, improvisation and visual elements, and explore the relationship between physical gesture, space and sound. He is a founding member of the Paris-based ensemble soundinitiative, serving as co-artistic director from 2011 to 2021, where he developed performance formats combining movement, staging and new approaches to collective authorship.

Improvisation forms a central strand of his artistic identity. Hyde performs in a range of collaborative settings including the electro-acoustic trio Replicant, the acoustic trio Vitrio, and the hybrid duo scapegoat with percussionist Noam Bierstone, whose work bridges composed and emergent performance practices. His collaborations with composers have resulted in numerous premieres and recordings for labels including Kairos, NMC and Wergo, and his performances have been recognised with major distinctions including First Prize and Audience Prize at the International Jean-Marie Londeix Competition and the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Darmstadt Summer Courses.

Hyde studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from the Sydney Conservatorium. His artistic formation bridges instrumental performance, improvisation and composition, informing a practice that situates the saxophone within a broader ecosystem of contemporary creation. He is currently Professor of Saxophone and Contemporary Chamber Music at the Haute École de Musique de Genève and is regularly invited to give masterclasses and residencies at leading institutions worldwide.

Emotive, textural and organic, Fiona Hill’s ‘striking timbral exploration of abstract sonic properties’ (Music Trust) and ‘seamless working in of live electronics’ (Sydney Arts Guide) blends new technologies with corporeal evocations to generate detailed and immersive sound worlds. Composed through the layering of textural and harmonic sounds her music creates a deep and expansive bedrock on which to place melodic materials concerned with a freedom of spirit.

Fiona has a deep collaborative, multi-disciplinary based practice, through response and interaction with sonic materials as well as through direct collaboration with other artists. Her work has been recognised with multiple awards and nominations including winner of ‘The Stelvio Cipriani international Film Scoring Competition’ 2022, winner of ‘Best Film Score’ at the Seoul International Short Film Festival 2021.

Fiona has been performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony orchestra, Sydney Dance Company, Ensemble Offspring, Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows and multiple electroacoustic works. She has a Masters in Screen Composition from AFTRS, a PhD in Composition from the University of Sydney and is currently lecturer in Composition for Creative Industries at the University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Photo credit: Deep Hill Media