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

AGATHA YIM, POLYPHONIC PICTURES filming and editing
ABC CLASSIC Producer • Jennifer Mills / Engineer • Niyi Adepoyibi

Filmed August 2025 in the Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Wurundjeri Country/Southbank

"By the Tide of the Moon” was commissioned by Andrew Domasevicius-Zilinskas for Flinders Quartet and dedicated to Aida Tuciute, and her beautiful kinship with the ocean. Flinders Quartet is truly grateful for the ongoing support and friendship of Andrew and Aida.
 
Flinders Quartet is deeply grateful for the support of project partner, Creative Victoria, as well as all of our wonderful Fifth String donors.

NATALIE NICOLAS (b. 1992)
By the Tide of the Moon (composed 2022)
Commissioned by Andrew Domasevicius-Zilinskas for Flinders Quartet and dedicated to Aida Tuciute, and her beautiful kinship with the ocean

Natalie Nicolas is the only composer to have been accepted on multiple occasions into FQ’s composer development programs (in 2017 and 2019). Since that time, her work has been performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony orchestras, Claire Edwardes, Goldner String Quartet, and many others. With ARIA nominations and international recognition, she has also had a work premiered by Grammy-nominated ZOFO.

By the Tide of the Moon was commissioned in 2022 by Andrew Domasevicius-Zilinskas in honour of his wife, Aida Tuciute, an Olympic swimmer with a love of ocean swimming. It tells the story of Aida’s deep love and connection with the water, beginning with her heartbeat. She begins to feel patterns in the water - ripples, shapes and undulations and then the sun hits the water and dances on the surface. A stillness returns in the water as Aida feels the deepness and the vastness of the ocean. She pushes and pulls with the rhythm of the water, conquering the current and becoming a force of her own.

Natalie Nicolas has said that she writes from the heart, and it shows. Though there’s plenty of nuance, this is music that doesn’t try to impress with complexity but instead lets the listener sink into an emotional landscape. This work continues the relationship between Natalie and FQ, celebrates a love between Andrew and Aida, and is a beautiful example of how friendship with nature can be just as deep and sustaining as any human bond.