FESTIVAL EXTRA!
Martinů Quartet
Lubomír Havlák and Adéla Štajnochrová violins | Martin Stupka viola | Jitka Vlašánková cello
Beneš String Quartet No 2 in F Op 32
Martinů String Quartet No 5
Dvořák String Quartet No 14 in A flat Op 105
The Martinů Quartet will be performing for the thirtieth time in Leamington and Warwickshire since first coming to the Warwick & Leamington Festival in 1998 – by far the most times for any visiting quartet.
The Quartet comes with some new members and a recently re-discovered Czech composer, Josef Beneš, who lived 1795 to 1873. A distinguished violinist, he wrote two quartets towards the end of his life, the second in 1871.
Concert generously supported by Hugh & Jane Beale
£26 | £16
(£1 children / students)
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)
Sacconi Quartet
Ben Hancox and Hannah Dawson violins
Robin Ashwell viola, Cara Berridge cello
with Emma Abbate piano
Vaughan Williams String Quartet No 1 in G minor
Ravel String Quartet in F
Elgar Piano Quintet in A minor Op 84
We begin the 2022 Festival with a relatively rare gem from Ralph Vaughan Williams. RVW wrote his First String Quartet in 1908 after studying with Ravel for three months; it seems only natural, therefore, to pair this work with Ravel’s only Quartet which was completed in 1903.
Both RVW and Ravel served in World War I in non-combative roles, as ambulance crew and lorry driver respectively. Elgar’s great period was also the years before and during the Great War, writing patriotic music and following with his three great chamber works including the Piano Quintet of 1918.
The Sacconi Quartet return to Leamington after a superb opening concert of the Autumn Season and Emma Abbate, originally from Italy and now a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, makes her Leamington Music debut in this fine Festival opener.
Tickets: £25 reserved centre | £17 unreserved sides
Heath String Quartet
Sara Wolstenholme and Marije Johnston violins
Gary Pomeroy viola, Christopher Murray cello
Haydn Quartet in B flat Op 50 No 1
Fanny Mendelssohn Quartet in E flat
Janáček Quartet No 2 ‘Intimate Letters’
Founded twenty years ago at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Heath Quartet has seen a number of changes in its line-up over the years, but has consistently won prizes first in competitions and then for its recordings. This winter season it performs in Barcelona and Berlin and in the summer will be at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. And it has taken Fanny Mendelssohn some time to feature in Leamington!
Concert generously supported by Jolyon Hall
Pražák String Quartet of Prague
Jana Vonášková and Marie Magdalena Fuxová violins
Josef Klusoň viola, Pavel Jonáš Krejčí cello
Suk Meditation
Janáček Quartet No 1 ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’
Karel Janovický Quartet No 4 (UK première)
Dvořák Quartet in G Op 106
The Pražák Quartet was our first casualty of the lockdown back in March 2020 and so we are delighted to welcome them again, bringing a totally Czech programme to build on their triumphant success here in the 2018 Leamington Music Festival.
Concert generously supported by the Low-Beer Trust