In this seventh program of his ongoing work in progress 51 % – Fantastic Music by Women, the Kairos Quartet celebrates the 60th birthday of the Australian composer Liza Lim – one of the most significant composers of our time, with whom the quartet has collaborated since 1998. Lim is internationally regarded as a key figure in the connection of contemporary music, cultural hybridity, and ecological thinking. Her compositions explore the materiality of sound and the poetic power of threads, knots, and braids – symbols for relationships, memory, and transformation. The program gathers, alongside two central works by Lim, other significant contemporary voices that represent a distinctive richness in sound languages.

Lim combines in Weaver’s Knot and String Creatures complex sonic processes with powerful images of intertwining, tension, and transformation – the quartet appears as a living, multifaceted creature. Both pieces are also influenced by folk musical playing techniques, namely that of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle or the “chopping” technique of Bluegrass. Terranova creates in Sentire con tatto a sensually tactile sound world, in which the finest textures, layers, and sound qualities transform the string quartet into a breathing organism. Vrhunc gifts the Kairos Quartet with two “composed interpretations” of Bach’s works in the form of miniatures for the anniversary; these will amplify, distort, and condense the original affect, bringing it into our time. In Vrhunc's sound language, the essence of Bach is preserved in remembrance.