Sunday, March 24th, 2.30pm

Beethoven has been immortalised by popular culture.  Aside from his music, which has been featured in many of cinema’s cult classics; he has been eternalised by rock bands, Walt Disney, NASA and who could forget, the drooling Saint Bernard!   Of course, there is the music; but the tragedy of his deafness, chaotic love life, provocative political sentiments and tempestuous nature has proved as fascinating and captivating as his musical legacy.  Yet, if we strip away the cinematic narrative and consider his letters, writings and music, we glimpse a man oft portrayed with furrowed brow and tempestuous outpourings, yearning to be understood by his fellow man, vulnerable through heartbreak, and at his core, a man of faith.  

 Beethoven would write sixteen string quartets in his lifetime.   These glorious quartets give voice to the innermost landscape of the human heart and spirit and continue to astound both listener and performer over two hundred years after their conception with their inspiration and audacity. They stand, like Michelangelo's statues or the plays of Shakespeare, at the pinnacle of Western art.

‘Beethoven’s Letters’ interweaves the musical language of Beethoven’s quartets with the spoken words of his letters and memoirs.  Acclaimed actor and director, John Bell portrays the man behind the genius in this unique, musical exposé that features movements from Beethoven’s Opus 18, 74, 131, 132 & 135, including the Heiligenstadt Testament. 

John Bell - Actor

Adam Chalabi - 1st Violin
Lerida Delbridge - 2nd Violin
Justin Williams - Viola
Patrick Murphy - Cello

  • JOHN BELL - ACTOR / DIRECTOR / FOUNDER BELL SHAKESPEARE

    John Bell is the founder of Bell Shakespeare and one of Australia’s most acclaimed theatre personalities. In a career of acting and directing, John has been instrumental in shaping the Australian theatre industry as we know it. After graduating from Sydney University in 1962 John worked for the Old Tote Theatre Company, all of Australia’s state theatre companies and was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the United Kingdom. As co-founder of Sydney’s Nimrod Theatre Company, John presented many productions of landmark Australian plays including David Williamson’s Travelling North, The Club and The Removalists. He also initiated an Australian Shakespeare style with Nimrod productions such as Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth.

    In 1990 John founded The Bell Shakespeare Company where his productions have included The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Romeo And Juliet, The Taming Of The Shrew, Richard 3, Pericles, Henry 4, Henry 5, Julius Caesar, Antony And Cleopatra, The Comedy Of Errors, Wars Of The Roses, Measure For Measure, Macbeth and As You Like It, as well as John Webster’s The Duchess Of Malfi, Goldoni’s The Servant Of Two Masters, Gogol’s The Government Inspector and Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist. His Shakespeare roles include Hamlet, Shylock, Henry V, Richard III, Macbeth, Malvolio, Berowne, Petruchio, Leontes, Coriolanus, Prospero, King Lear, Titus Andronicus and Falstaff. He played the title role in co-productions with Queensland Theatre Company including: Richard 3, Heiner Müller’s Anatomy Titus Fall Of Rome: A Shakespeare Commentary and performed the role of Mephistopheles, in Faustus. John directed Tosca and Carmen for Opera Australia, The Rake’s Progress for the Victorian Opera and has also directed a production of Madame Butterfly for an Oz Opera national tour. John performed the role of the Professor in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Uncle Vanya, presented in association with Bell Shakespeare which also toured to Washington and New York. John played the leading role in The Father for Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company in late 2017 and directed and starred in Diplomacy for Ensemble Theatre in 2018. He has been touring the country throughout 2018 with Simon Tedeschi in two shows Enoch Arden and Bright Star. John has also appeared in two television series aired in 2019, Diary Of An Uber Driver for ABC and Lambs Of God for Fox Television. In 2019 John played the title role in Moliere’s The Miser for Bell Shakespeare. 2021 saw John in the highly successful Grand Horizons for Sydney Theatre Company and a welcome return season in 2022 at Sydney Theatre. 2022 had John collaborating with Simon Tedeschi on a number of shows around the country including ‘Words And Music’ and ‘With Love, Amadeus’. John also performed his one man show on Shakespeare ‘One Man In His Time’ in Sydney and Melbourne for Bell Shakespeare as well as another one man show ‘A Few Of My Favourite Things’ at the Edinburgh Festival. He also featured with the Australian Haydn Ensemble in Haydn Speaks. At the end of 2022, John starred in a production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ for Ensemble Theatre. 2024 will see John appearing at Blackheath Chamber Music Festival as well as with Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Umberto Clerici plus further dates planned with Simon Tedeschi.

    John Bell is an Officer of the Order of Australia and the Order of the British Empire. He has an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the Universities of Sydney, New South Wales and Newcastle. In 1997 the National Trust of Australia named him as one of Australia’s Living Treasures. In 2003 the Australia Business Arts Foundation awarded John the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Cultural Leadership Award. His many awards as an actor and director include the Helpmann Award for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor (Richard 3, 2002 & Jaques in As you Like It, 2015) & nominated for Best Support Actor and Best Actor (Uncle Vanya, 2011 and The Father, 2017), a Producers and Directors Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement and the JC Williamson Award (2009) for extraordinary contribution to Australia’s live entertainment industry and the 2010 Sydney Theatre Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his extraordinary career as an actor, director and producer. John is the founder and chair of The Bouddi Foundation for the Arts, based on the NSW Central Coast, dedicated to supporting young artists of all genres.

  • Adam Chalabi - 1st Violin
    Lerida Delbridge - 2nd Violin
    Justin Williams - Viola
    Patrick Murphy - Cello

    Internationally acclaimed for its ‘addictive sound’ and ‘intuitive’ music making, Australia’s Tinalley String Quartet has established itself as one of the finest string quartets of its generation since forming in 2003. Awarded First Prize at the 9th Banff International String Quartet Competition and Grand Prize at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition, the Quartet has performed throughout Europe, America, Canada and Australia to critical acclaim. International highlights have included appearances at the Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Bremen Die Glocke, Frankfurt AlteOper, as well as in Paris, Hamburg, Vancouver, San Francisco, Toronto and New York. In Australia, the Quartet has an active recital schedule and has appeared at the nation’s premier festivals including the Adelaide Music Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, Canberra International Music Festival, Tasmania Chamber Music Festival, Huntington Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. The Quartet has been broadcast worldwide by ABC Classic FM, CBC Canada, SRW2 and HR2 Kultur Germany, Radio France and Public National Radio, The Netherlands. Tinalley’s CD release of Haydn’s Opus 20 Quartets garnered international praise, with UK’s Strad Magazine describing the performances as “technically assured, warm-toned, beautifully blended and ideally balanced” and singling the recording out as ‘recommended listening’. Tinalley is currently Quartet in Residence at The University of Queensland and in 2018 released a new recording of the Ravel and Debussy String Quartets on DECCA Classics.

The Artists