FLINDERS QUARTET
Elizabeth Sellars • violin
Wilma Smith • violin
Helen Ireland • viola
Zoe Knighton • cello

AGATHA YIM, POLYPHONIC PICTURES filming and editing
THOMAS GRUBB, MANO MUSICA sound engineering, editing and mastering

Filmed May 2026 in the Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Wurundjeri Country/Southbank

This project was made possible through support from Creative Victoria and FQ’s Fifth String donors

A special thank you to The Ian Potter Foundation and the Besen Family Foundation for their support of our composer programs over the years

NICOLE BRADY
Ricochet (composed 2024)
Commissioned by Flinders Quartet as part of Ascend 2024

A note from the composer:

"The core concept of Ricochet, both physically and metaphorically, is the deviation from an expected path following an initial impact, leading to new directions. This notion is embodied in the technique of ricochet, which to me is like plyometrics for strings.

In crafting Ricochet, I leaned into my own immersion, and I aimed to create a throughline from Renaissance music towards the 22nd century, with subtle nods to Couperin, Ravel, and Mozart transitioning between sections.

Echoing the central ricochet motives almost like a tape loop, it shows how temporality can ricochet from historical into contemporary times."

Nicole Brady's work spans interactive projects, orchestra and chamber compositions, to XR productions. Her work has been recognised by The Peabody Awards and IndieCade, and she holds the Director's Award for Exceptional Doctoral Research at the University of Melbourne. Her debut string quartet Ricochet was commissioned through the Flinders Quartet 2024 Ascend Composers Commissioning Program, with a chamber orchestra and electronics version premiere by Ensemble Resonanz conducted by Friederike Scheunchen to open ICMC 2026 at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Other chamber works include Sognare: Vignette I-IV (Omega Ensemble, Sydney Opera House / Hear Now LA), theatre works Libretto at Six O'Clock (Lyris Quartet + Jessica Rauch, In Sheep's Clothing LA), Postlude (Omega Ensemble + Kendall Goddard, Sydney Opera House), and a new work for Bronzewing will premiere at the Melbourne Recital Centre in October 2026. Her immersive album Lost Palace, recorded with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and featuring Mark Guiliana, Miles Mosley, Lydia Ainsworth, and Steelin Hearts, was picked up across editorial playlists on Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal.

In games, she composed and performed her piano concerto Neo Prefecture for the critically acclaimed We Are OFK, released on PS5, Switch, and Sony Soundtracks. Her decade-long collaboration with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Basiscape Studio Tokyo spans Final Fantasy, Tekken, and Valkyria Chronicles, and her anime credits with Kevin Penkin include Star Wars Visions, Sky: Two Embers, and Dragonstriker.

She directed Repast, a large-scale immersive XR installation co-produced and scored by Paul Castles, which was developed through a Ukaria Cultural Centre residency and supported by ILA (Immersive Light & Art) and Creative Australia, and reached over 20,000 participants across Illuminate Adelaide and Spier Light Art Cape Town.

Nicole is a masters graduate of New York University (Brian May Scholar and the Elmer Bernstein Award) in Scoring for Film & Multimedia, an undergraduate in piano performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Winifred Neirous Award for the top graduating recital), and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg Sommerakademie; she studied with Daniel Gortler, Ira Newborn, and William Motzing.