The concert program from the Seraphim Trio programs new and unfamiliar works at the top of the bill and ends with the familiar. Comprising violinist Helen Ayres, cellist Tim Nankervis and pianist Anna Goldsworthy, the trio is joined by Christopher Moore, Principal Viola of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and previously Principal Viola of Australian Chamber Orchestra, for a program of three piano quartets by Dora Pejačević, Brett Dean and Mozart.

Seraphim Trio with Christopher Moore, Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House, 2022. Photo © Cassandra Hannagan

Dora Pejačević’s (1885-1923) Piano Quartet in D Minor, Op. 25 (1908) realises the trio’s pledge to program the music of forgotten women composers. Pejačević only lived to the age of 38, but her considerable output included a piano concerto and a symphony, despite women of the era not venturing beyond writing shorter forms of music. She moved away from the salon to a richer orchestral style and her Opus 25, written when she was only 23, is a lush piece in four movements. The ensemble does it ample justice playing in sweeping late Romantic style, resonant in the cramped acoustic. There are hints of...