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)
Ensemble 360
Robert Plane clarinet, Amy Harman bassoon
Naomi Atherton horn
Benjamin Nabarro & Claudia Ajmone-Marsan violins, Rachel Roberts viola, Gemma Rosefield cello
with guest double bassist
Berwald Grand Septet in B flat
Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A K581
Beethoven Septet in E flat Op 20
The Swedish composer Franz Berwald wrote his Grand Septet in 1828, the year after Beethoven died. He had completed his Septet in 1823, just before he embarked on his late string quartets. Between these two works is another opportunity to meet Ensemble 360’s new clarinettist in Mozart’s sublime Quintet.
“…brimming with body and soul with passion, vitality and virtuosity…” – The Independent
Concert generously supported by Murray Campbell, John Hobley, Jonathan Holden, Rose Ledlie, Roger Massie, Margaret Pringle, Peter Sunderland and Julia Winter
£20 unreserved
(£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)
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)
Tereza Privratska and Julia Loucks violins
Lorena Cantó Woltèche viola, Toby White cello
Schubert Quartettsatz D703
Sylvie Bodorová Quartet No 4 ‘Shofarot’
Beethoven Quartet in A minor Op 132
Originally formed in London in 2006, the Jubilee Quartet is currently Associate String Quartet at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Its most recent appearance in Leamington was in the 2017 Festival playing the Mendelssohn Octet with the Doric Quartet.
Sylvie Bodorová’s Terezín Ghetto Requiem has been performed four times at Holy Trinity, so the UK premiere of her fourth quartet is eagerly awaited.
Concert generously supported by the Low-Beer Trust
Current Government guidance states that face coverings MUST be worn to concerts; any changes to this will be listed on our homepage.
Please note that concerts might be cancelled if any Government guidance changes; in the event of this, a full refund will be offered.
Leamington Music reserves the right to change artists or programmes if necessary.
Tickets held for this concert will be transferred to a new date.
They can also be transferred to another Leamington Music concert or refunded in full – please email helen@leamingtonmusic.org for further details.
Matthew Denton and Michelle Fleming violins
Eoin Schmidt-Martin viola, Emma Denton cello
Beethoven Quartet in F minor Op 95 ‘Serioso’
Shostakovich Quartet No 9 in E flat
The Carducci Quartet first played for Leamington Music in 2009 and this is its seventh concert in the town. The Carducci’s recent programmes here have included Shostakovich, whose full cycle the Quartet toured throughout 2015 with an accompanying CD release and which won a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award.
Current Government guidance states that face coverings MUST be worn to concerts; any changes to this will be listed on our homepage.
Please note that concerts might be cancelled if any Government guidance changes; in the event of this, a full refund will be offered.
Leamington Music reserves the right to change artists or programmes if necessary.
Tickets held for this concert will be transferred to a new date.
They can also be transferred to another Leamington Music concert or refunded in full – please email helen@leamingtonmusic.org for further details.
Sara Bitlloch and Donald Grant violins
Simone van der Giessen viola, Marie Bitlloch cello
Scottish Folk Music settings
Beethoven Quartet in E flat Op 127
The fifteenth Leamington Music Winter Season will be different, but there’s no better way of opening than having the Elias Quartet, fresh from the virtual Edinburgh Festival, here for the sixth time.
It is still the Beethoven 250 year and the Elias has performed the full cycle several times since launching their Beethoven Project in 2011. His vast output included some Scottish folk music, so Donald Grant’s settings can connect and be much enjoyed.
Concert generously supported by Margaret Goode
Current Government guidance states that face coverings MUST be worn to concerts; any changes to this will be listed on our homepage.
Please note that concerts might be cancelled if any Government guidance changes; in the event of this, a full refund will be offered.
Leamington Music reserves the right to change artists or programmes if necessary.
Sara Bitlloch and Donald Grant violins
Simone van der Giessen viola, Marie Bitlloch cello
Purcell Fantasias
Britten Quartet No 3 Op 94
Beethoven Quartet in C minor Op 18 No 4
The fifteenth Leamington Music Winter Season will be different, but there’s no better way of opening than having the Elias Quartet, fresh from the virtual Edinburgh Festival, here for the sixth time.
It is still the Beethoven 250 year and the Elias has performed the full cycle several times since launching their Beethoven Project in 2011. The Elias also recently recorded the three quartets by Britten earning further rave reviews. His third quartet was his last completed work and follows on from his opera Death in Venice.
Concert generously supported by Margaret Goode
Current Government guidance states that face coverings MUST be worn to concerts; any changes to this will be listed on our homepage.
Please note that concerts might be cancelled if any Government guidance changes; in the event of this, a full refund will be offered.
Leamington Music reserves the right to change artists or programmes if necessary.