Arcadia Quartet
Ana Török and Răsvan Dumitru violins
Traian Boală viola, Zsolt Török cello
Haydn Quartet in B flat Op 33 No 4
Weinberg Quartet No 15
Beethoven Quartet in F Op 59 No 1
Winners of the 2012 London International String Quartet Competition, the Arcadia Quartet from Romania comes to Leamington for the third time. Interest in the Polish composer Mieczysław Weinberg, who was befriended by Shostakovich when, being Jewish, he fled to Russia in World War Two, has increased enormously in recent years. Weinberg wrote seven operas and 17 string quartets and we hope to programme more of this works in the future.
“…playing that maximises the emotional range explored in each work…” – BBC Music Magazine
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
Doric Quartet
Alex Redington and Ying Xue violins
Hélène Clément viola, John Myerscough cello
Beethoven Quartet in G Op 18 No 2
Berg Quartet Op 3
Smetana Quartet No 1 in E minor ‘From My Life’
Formed in 1998, the Doric Quartet performs for the fifth time in Leamington Music’s seventeen years – last appearing in the 2017 Festival. The quartet’s line-up has changed over the years but its pre-eminent position among British quartets remains at the top. Berg’s extraordinary Quartet sits between one of Beethoven’s earliest and Smetana’s great autobiographical work.
“…sumptuous sweetness and laser-like clarity…” – BBC Music Magazine
Concert generously supported by David & Gina Wilson
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
Piatti Quartet
Michael Trainor and Rebecca Chan violins
Tesuumi Nagata viola, Jessie Ann Richardson cello
Ullmann Quartet No 3 Op 46
Haas Quartet No 3
Beethoven Quartet in E minor Op 59 No 2
On Holocaust Memorial Day, the Piatti Quartet, performing in Leamington for the fourth time and making their Concertgebouw Amsterdam debut this November, play quartets by two of the Terezín composers who perished in Auschwitz in 1944. The programme concludes with a work by Beethoven that featured in the ghetto’s remarkable cultural life. Leamington has been a centre for Czech music for many years now and the Terezín story regularly remembered in our programmes.
“A signally impressive young ensemble” – The Sunday Times
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
Fitzwilliam Quartet
Lucy Russell and Andrew Roberts violins
Alan George viola, Heather Tuach cello
Purcell Fantazia No 6 in F
Rebecca Clarke Poem
Vaughan Williams Quartet No 2 in A minor
Schubert Quartet in G D887
The Fitzwilliam Quartet returns to complete Leamington Music’s contribution to the RVW150 celebrations. Vaughan Williams’s Quartet No 1 was played in the opening concert of the 2022 Leamington Music Festival. The Fitzwilliam Quartet can be relied on to produce an eclectic programme, like many enjoyed over the years, with their interpretation of Schubert’s greatest quartet a highlight of the 2019 Leamington Music Festival.
“…an effortlessly rich collective tone” – The Strad
Concert generously supported by Jolyon Hall
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
Eusebius Quartet
Beatrice Philips and Venetia Jollands violins
Hannah Shaw viola, Hannah Sloane cello
Haydn Quartet in G Op 76 No 1
Howard Skempton Tendrils
Beethoven Quartet in E flat Op 127
Named after Schumann’s fictional character, this young Anglo-American quartet based in London was founded in 2016. Coming to Leamington for the first time, they play Haydn’s evergreen Quartet Op 76 No 1, alongside the first of Beethoven’s legendary late quartets and Howard Skempton’s Tendrils as a tribute for his 75th birthday.
“Wit and charm abound…” – The Strad
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
Brodsky Quartet
Krysia Osostowicz and Ian Belton violins
Paul Cassidy viola, Jacqueline Thomas cello
Borodin Scherzo from ‘Les Vendredis’
Beethoven Quartet in F Op 135
Shostakovich Quartet No 3 in F Op 73
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Brodsky Quartet returns to Leamington playing key works by composers whose complete quartet cycles have been a feature of recent years. Borodin’s Scherzo was one of the many works specially written for a series of performances organized by a music-loving tycoon in St Petersburg that took place on Fridays. String Quartets on Fridays have been a feature of musical life first in Warwick and then in Leamington since 1988, as we start another exciting season.
6.15pm in the Conservatory | free to all advance-purchase ticket holders
Pre-concert talk on books written by Paul Cassidy and Jacqueline Thomas
“Fiercely focused, blazing with integrity, and brilliantly imagined…” – The Telegraph
Concert generously supported by Margaret Goode
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)