Omega Ensemble will give the Australian premieres of Danny Elfman’s Piano Quartet and Anna Meredith’s Tuggemo on 2 and 6 May in Sydney at Pier 2/3 The Neilson and Sutherland Entertainment Centre. Their programme, Howl, also includes works by Missy Mazzoli, Daniel Wohl and Pierre Jalbert.
Elfman’s 21-minute Piano Quartet was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet who premiered the work during their 2018 US tour, and subsequently recorded it on Sony Classical. It is cast in five movements: Ein Ding; Kinderspott; Duett für Vier; Ruhig; Die Wolfsjungen. He says of the piece:
Having only recently finished the violin concerto, I was much more relaxed with diving into what was, for me, more uncharted territory. The idea of writing a string quartet was intimidating, as I’m so infatuated by the string quartets of Shostakovich – but the presence of a piano gave me a bit more confidence, and I loved the freedom that the genre provides. For some strange reason, my first thematic thought going into it was doing variations on the familiar children’s schoolyard taunt: “Nya, nya, nya, nya nya…” I had no idea why, but wasn't aware of anyone doing that before…You can hear it in the second movement of the quartet, “Kinderspott”.
Watch Elfman discuss his Piano Quartet here. Writing in Gramophone, Edward Seckerson praised the “restless nature” of the piece: “it sometimes feels like a latter-day kind of Kinderszenen, with the sinister games of the second movement typifying the child in Elfman.” In 2025 it toured Scandinavia with Camerata Nordica and Roland Pöntinen, and has also been taken by the Metropolis Piano Quartet and Hefest Piano Quartet.
Meredith’s Tuggemo is a 5-minute for string quartet and electronics. Its title is a now obsolete old English word for a swarm of birds or flies. “This piece is all about swoops of direction and energy”, Meredith writes, and the work is a series of leaping glissandos underwritten by steadily-pulsing electronic beats and melodic patterns. Premiered by the Ligeti Quartet in 2018, the piece features on the 2023 record Nuc, an anthology of her works for string quartet alongside new arrangements of her music by quartet violist Richard Jones. Listen to Tuggemo here.
In March 2026 Manchester Collective presented the work at the Elbphilharmonie and the Royal Danish Academy of Music; it has also been presented by members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Solem Quartet, and in a version for string ensemble by Scottish Ensemble.