Airat Ichmouratov's Octet in G minor, Op. 56, was composed in December 2017. It was commissioned and premiered by Saguenay and Lafayette String Quartets on 13 January 2018 at Fanny Bay Hall, Fanny Bay, British Columbia, Canada. The Octet was inspired by Stefan Zweig's novella "Letter from an Unknown Woman" and bears the same name. In November 2018 composer made an arrangement of the Octet for string orchestra and it was recorded by Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra with Evgeny Bushkov as a conductor and was released by Chandos Records. The string orchestra version was first time publicly performed by the Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra with Evgeny Bushkov as a conductor on March 13, 2019 in Minsk, Belarus.